Expert: Bluebird Bob Walshaw - 7/13/2008

Question
Three days ago, I found a baby bluebird on my bathroom floor -I have a doggy door that family members don't always close at night, and my kitty's instincts obviously took over. My teen daughter insisted on trying to raise it, but it quickly died. Next morning, I see it's "twin" just sitting on on backyard lawn. Has gray feathers with blue-tinged wing feathers - 2-3 inches long. Read helpful hints on net, spoke with vet, and obtained recommended baby bird food at pet store. All's well. Decided to take out to backyard and long story short, the parents (two bluebirds) are still caring for it. I've been leaving the baby on the lawn (shaded) and the two adults are feeding it. I've even been dive-bombed twice by the parents when I went out briefly to check that baby was okay. Tried to put the "house nest" (box with shredded newsprint) on top of large garbage can to keep baby safe, but parents don't seem to like it. Shall I continue with fostering the baby this way? I'm concerned that just having baby sitting on the lawn makes her a "sitting duck" for predators, but parents won't feed it any other way that I can figure out. What to do?
P.S. Doggy door is now securely LOCKED.

Answer
You are doing the right thing. Leave it on the lawn. When babies leave the nest early, often due to a predator attack, they are always fed on the ground. They never go back to a nest. I am glad that you did not try to feed it. People do this and the baby bonds to the feeder, never learns to forage or to avoid predators and can never go back to the wild. This may sound callous, but a bluebird pair can raise 15 or more young in a year and if they all survived we would be up to our hips in Bluebirds. The survival rate of the young is very low, but it is nature's plan. Predators get the slow and not so smart which keeps the species strong - the survival of the fittest. Send your mailing address to me at walshaw1@cox.net and I will send you a free 20 page Bluebird book that will give you a lot more information. PS - Get one of those automatic litter boxes and convert your cat to an indoor one. It will not be digging in its waste, you will save litter, and your cat will be healthier and will live longer. Cats kill millions of birds and small animals, usually very cruelly by injuring them first and then playing with them. We have domesticated them, but we have not bred the killer instincts out of them.