Expert: Roger Lederer - 3/19/2011

Question
QUESTION: I have an about to fledge baby dove. It was found by a neighbour down the street since the nest had been ransacked and the dove was on the ground for several hours. She gave it to me to care for.
It has been here for three days and since it wants to fledge I took it outdoors with some millet hoping to teach it to eat on it's own. A dove flew immediately to the vicinity. I think a juvenile due to the size.
The baby was begging the other dove for food and I thought the gestures of the other dove was at first a feeding motion only to find out it was rushing the chick and pecking at it. I waited and watched and finally picked the chick up and brought it back inside.It looked like aggression to me.
Was that an attack? or a warning maybe to the chick to stay still to hide from danger?
Hopefully you can enlighten me if it is a normal gesture from a parent dove. This small dove needs help in learning to eat since I have been hand feeding baby parrot food since it was brought to me. Many thanks and kindest regards.

ANSWER: Almost always the best thing to do is release the bird and let its parents take care of it; they will probably find it. I don't know what the so-called aggressive behavior was about, but it could very well be a parent. Unless you are experienced in raising baby birds, best thing to do is let it go. And thanks for your concern.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have five decades of hand raising baby parrots so that is not a problem.
I guess I failed to say that the bird is placed outdoors in an appropriate size cage for a length of time each day (we're in Florida) and to date other than the one episode of what I know to be aggression, there has been no response from any adult bird.
So what are you suggesting? that I set it free in the hopes it survives?

Answer
Well, if it is a wild dove, like a Mourning Dove, it is illegal to keep it in captivity. Second, if you keep it in captivity, it will never breed, so it's genetically dead from a biological point of view. The longer you keep it the less it will be able to handle the wild if it is released later. So unless it is severely injured, it is best to let it go. It might not survive, but it might. I'd always take that chance so the bird has the opportunity to live a natural life.