Expert: Roger Lederer - 7/7/2007

Question
My husband found a bird nest inside the lawnmower basket. The momma bird was there and flew out when he first picked the basket up. However, he didn't know there were 4 freshly born babies inside and he picked it up. Once he realized the birds were inside he placed it on some junk near the original site. I'm afraid the momma won't come back because of an unknown smell. When I went out there the nest tilted and 2 babies were on the pile of junk kinda moving around. I used surgical gloves and placed them back inside the nest but had to move it less than 1 foot away for protection. Will the momma come back or will the babies die?

Answer
I can't predict if the mother will return. If a nest is disturbed enough it might cause the parents to abandon it. However, any smell is irrelevant. Birds have a bad sense of smell so touching the bird's eggs or young or nest with bare hands will have no effect. It is simply the disturbance factor. Thanks for your concern.