Expert: Roger Lederer - 7/12/2007

Question
QUESTION: My boyfriend and I saw a nest outside of our house, it was actually in our in
wall air conditioner.  We moved the air conditioner to the window to give the
birds more room, but in doing this I think we may have confused the mother,
she hasn't been back in days!  We finally looked in the nest and found 2 eggs,
we watched the nest for a few hours and no birds flew to it.  We decided that
they are House Sparrow eggs.

Can we save the eggs?  There are 2... we brought them inside and have them
under a lamp and tucked in a blanket... we want to try to save them, but
know that they may be gone already.

Please help!  We would love to hatch these eggs!

ANSWER: You discovered that too much disturbance can cause birds to abandon their nest. But you should have left the nest where it was to see if the parents come back - a few hours isn't long because with only two eggs they weren't incubating yet. Best thing to do is put the eggs back in the nest to see if the parents do come back. It is VERY difficult to incubate wild bird eggs and raise the young. You should try to contact your local wildlife rehab center for information and advice.

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

QUESTION: It had been days... not hours.  No offense, but this wasn't very helpful.  We know
that the nest has been abandoned... it hasn't been visited since early Sunday...
do you have any thoughts on how to save them from now on?  If not thanks
anyway

Answer
My apologies. I misread the question. If the eggs were not incubated before the birds left, then they might be viable. Again, the best thing to do is contact your local wildlife rehab center if you have one as they have experience doing this. If that is not feasible, go to www.ornithology.com/rehab.html for links to advice on how to hatch eggs and raise baby birds. But again, it is extremely difficult for an inexperienced person to hatch eggs and raise young wild birds. I'm not trying to dicourage you from helping the birds, but being realistic. If you are successful in hatching them, they need a special diet which changes almost day by day and even if they survive they are often crippled because they do not get the right kind of food at the right time. Anyway, check the website I gave you for detailed advice and good luck. Thanks for your concern and again, I am sorry I misread your question.