Expert: Julia Booth - 1/7/2009

Question
Hello I was hoping somebody could help me…
As we have moved into a new house yesterday trees were cut down & a baby bird was found on the driveway.
It is still pink, and has a little bit of feathers but is mainly pink. And it is wobbly on its feet when it tries to move. It sort of moving its wings around but is mainly just trying to stand up and move. I am not sure what kind of bird it is. I rang a vet who suggested we make our own nest & put the bird up a tree so its parents might be able to find it. We couldn’t put it back in its original nest as it came down when the trees were cut. This was yesterday, and as I am now at work I am not sure if the mother found it or if it is still in the “nest” we made, which is made out of a container and has shredded paper in it (as the lady at the vet hospital suggested). It may be dead in there as well which is another possibility. If it is alive, I may look at hand raising it. I’m just not sure if I will be able to as I go to work…what I want to ask is, how do I look after it? What does it eat? Should I take it somewhere else instead?

Answer
My first advice is always to take it to someone more qualified. But he might not have time for that.

Trying to get the parents to care for it is usually the best bet, and often more successful than you'd expect. Parents will sometimes feel babies that have fallen from the nest, down on the ground. The fact that this baby sounds so young, makes me think he will still need the warmth that the nest would provide.

It would help to know what kind of bird it is, because diet varies greatly from one species to the next.

But on average, baby birds need to eat every 90 minutes. One thing you should know is that baby birds get all of their water from the food they eat. Don't try to give it water or feed it with a dropper, because it will drown. Most songbirds fledge between 2-3 weeks. So it's not a real long-term committment. But you can't leave it home alone when you go to work all day. It won't survive.

This website is very helpful: http://aviary.owls.com/baby_bird.html

And above all, you shouldn't feel guilty if the bird is dead. You can only do so much. Even if it had stayed with its parents and left the nest with its siblings, it would still only have a 1 in 5 chance of surviving to breed the following year.

Hope this helps,

Julia