Expert: Roger Lederer - 6/30/2009

Question
I live in New Brunswick and have a family of robins nesting in my vines that are attached to the garage. Three eggs hatched in the past two weeks. Last Thursday , I found one of the  baby robins on the ground about ten feet from the nest . It was still alive and so I gently picked it up with a paper towel and returned it to the nest. It died two days later and today I found it again about ten feet from the nest. The hatchings are a good size and  beginning to have feathers.  
  Should I have placed the bird back in the nest?
Would the parents toss the sickly or dying  robin out? The other two hatchings seem well and the parents are continuing to feed them.
  I don't used pesticides,  however, it has been very rainy and stormy the past week. It has  warmer than normal

Thank you very much for your reply.

Answer
Short answer - no,you should not have returned it to the nest. Young birds jump from the nest before they can fly and parents feed them on the ground until they can fly. Jumping from the nest is traumatic and what you did was make it jump from the nest again. I know you meant well, but almost always it is best to let nature take its course. And thanks for your concern.