Expert: Roger Lederer - 6/6/2009

Question
A hummingbird chick fell out of it's nest and into my yard today. The nest is too high to reach to place the chick back in. I have been feeding it warm water with honey and blood worms (the freeze dried kind I feed my fish) soaked in the honey water. Is this ok? If not what do I do? Or, what more can I do to help the chick? It is responding with chirping and practice flights. Thank you, Angela

Answer
Young birds rarely fall out of their nest; they jump when they are ready to leave the nest even though they cannot fly. You should never put a young bird back in the nest. The mother will feed the young until them can fly. You should leave the bird alone and let the mother feed it. If you give it food with honey water the honey could crystallize on the beak and cause bill rot. And the young bird will get used to being fed by a human and will have trouble adjusting to the wild. You are also probably keeping the mother away from the bird I understand your concern, but let nature and the mother hummingbird take it from here.