AboutRoger Lederer Expertise Any and all about wild birds - the science of ornithology. Information about birdwatching, ecology, conservation, migration, behavior, banding, rehabilitation, feeding, songs, binoculars, identification, and careers in ornithology. No questions about pet or caged birds, please.
Experience Have a PhD and thirty eight years as a professional ornithologist - research, teaching, author, speaker, webmaster of Ornithology.com . Have written thirty scientific papers, two bird field guides, a textbook in ecology and two recent books entitled "Amazing Birds" and "Birds of New England". Have traveled to over 80 countries watching birds.
Question I read your attached article and thanks for the help, however, is it possible to tape or mend the legs at all? I have a baby robin, it can fly and has been happily eating worms from my hand. I put it outside last night and found this morning that it does have a broken leg. It hopped to no avail around the neighborhood looking for it's mother but I have seen no robins around. I hear them and have searched for a nest (which I am sure will not help, not knowing where it came from#. I have called the authorities and same thing #4th of July and no one is around) My vet doesn't "do" birds. I have cats so I don't just want to let "nature" take it course and let it go on it's own. Is there some advise you can give me or is it really bleeding internally and this is all for nothing. That just seems so sad. Thank you so much for your time.
Answer Well, you can't be sure if it is a broken leg. Sometimes a young bird doesn't get the right nutrition and the leg doesn't develop properly. If it is broken, though, it would be a long shot that taping it would mend it. Birds' bones shatter when they break, not a clean break like most mammals. It is sad, but the best course of action is to release it in the woods somewhere nearby and hope the parents find it. It may seem cruel, but keeping it in captivity is not good either as it will never breed, if it even lives.
Yes, I know that very few vets "do" birds.
