On 'rescuing' small birds
Sooner or later, most people face a common dilemma. Your child (husband, wife, tenant, landlord, neighbor - fill in the blank) rushes into your house uttering those famous words: "look what I found!"
Yes. This is the time of year that you are most likely to come across a baby bird.
Being the tenderhearted creatures that we are, we want to help the poor thing.
The problem is that most of these little guys don't really need help and your good intentions may lead to the death of the very animal you are attempting to save.
Here are a few guidelines to follow if you come face to beak with a young bird.
For starters, go back to where it was found. Step back and watch carefully. often, if you wait, you will see at least one greatly agitated adult bird calling from a safe perch nearby. If you can see or hear the parent(s), great! most birds will continue to feed their young and protect them even when they are out of the nest.
Next, look at the baby. you have to do a quick assessment of the age and condition of the chick. "Oh, sure!" you say. "Do I look like a vet?" Actually, this assessment isn't that difficult. you just have to understand a bit of bird biology first.
Birds hatch from the egg in one of two states. many songbirds are naked, blind, and helpless at birth. baby robins fall into this category. This type is termed "altricial." the second type of baby, such as that of a grouse or killdeer, is called "precocial" and is down-covered and active soon after hatching.
If the baby before you is precocial and the parent bird is nearby, leave it alone and leave the area. as soon as you are gone the parent will collect its stray and find a better place to hide it.
More than likely, however, you are looking at an altricial bird. If your bird already has stiff wing feathers and only a few tufts of baby down left, and especially if it can fly (even if awkwardly), then it definitely doesn't need rescuing. Your individual may even have been pushed from the nest in order that it learn to fly. Again, step away from the bird and let the parents get on with the lesson.
If, however, the bird is naked or has only the beginnings of feathers or pinfeathers, and therefore can't fly, then it is in danger of getting picked off by the first house cat that happens by and does indeed require your assistance. See if you can locate the nest. robins and blue jays construct cup nests. Starlings nest in any hole they can find, including ventilation ducts or, in our case, before we repaired it, a hole in the soffit.
Contrary to popular belief, birds will not abandon a baby that has come into contact with humans, since most species have a very poor sense of smell. try to put the baby back in the nest. The parent will keep feeding it as if nothing happened. should the nest prove impossible to get to, don't despair. A simulation will do. you can nestle the baby in an old cloth in a plastic tub.
Secure the tub to a tree or building as close to the original nest as possible. The parent will find your pseudo-nest and feeding will resume. Birds are determined parents and will feed siblings in the original nest while making extra trips to your specially housed baby.
This spring, friends of mine unknowingly dislodged a clutch of starlings when cleaning out a dryer vent. they put the babies in a nest they made out of a plastic flowerpot, laid on its side, one end sealed with duct tape and a half-moon hole cut into the other. The "nest" was then hung by wire from the branch of a nearby tree. My friends and their children then got to watch the babies being fed, grow up, and fly away.
Although interesting and rewarding, raising an orphaned bird is a serious commitment. the babies have to be kept warm and fed regularly throughout the day for several weeks. Depending on what species of bird you have, combinations of substitute foods have to be mixed and delicately fed by one of a variety of methods.
If the bird makes it to adulthood, there is also the challenge of releasing it back to the wild. It is possible to successfully raise any bird you find, even a hummingbird. I have raised grackles, blue jays, robins, sparrows, starlings, and a crow. I can tell you that unless you are as devoted as a mother bird, you are far better off trying to reunite mother and chick.
Please tell your children (husband, wife, tenant etc.) that a bird, like a child, belongs with its parents, parents that are most likely hiding nearby and waiting for the you to leave. watch and appreciate. But unless there is a real need, do not disturb. The naturalist Beth Girdler writes from Ayer's Cliff, Quebec.
Copyright © 2000 Beth Girdler/Log Cabin Chronicles/07.00 |
