Urgent: bird experts, need advice!

[Mabelen]

We have a nest at the top of our garage door. One chick fell out. It is fully feathered but doesn't seem to be able to fly. It's resting on the door. What can I do?

[hornblower]

dd is a wildlife rehabilitator so I will ask her. Do you know what species? 

[hornblower]

fully feathered is more likely to be a fledge than a nestling. They don't know how to fly at first. Keep dogs, birds away & observe. Parents will probably be hanging out watching for it. If it's a crow, a whole extended family of aunts and uncles are keeping an eye out. 

[Mabelen]

I don't know. It is like a sparrow/finch kind of bird.

[hornblower]

It's most likely to be a fledgling then. If you can observe a bit, dd says you should see a parent come feed it within about 2h. It doesn't sound like the greatest spot but birds are like that...

 

there's a little flow chart here: http://www.spca.bc.ca/animal-issues/wildlife/injured/baby-birds/found-a-baby-bird.html

you can call around & see if there's a wildlife rehab near you just to keep ready in case but most likely the baby is fine. 

 

[Tanaqui]

Birds generally leave the next before learning how to fly. The nest isn't safety for them - they're safer being able to move around.

 

If the little bird is in no danger, then leave it and watch for the parents to feed it. Keep pets and children away!

 

If it's really in a dangerous spot, then you can carefully pick it up and put it some place close by but safe - say, under a bush or so. The parents likely won't reject it, that's a myth. However, you should always be very cautious about touching a baby bird because their bones are very delicate, and it's easy to harm them.

[Mabelen]

Update: when I went out next there were two chicks. One much bigger and stronger and the original one. There was a crow around watching closely so I decided to take action. I put the weakling chick back in the nest, it offered no resistance. The other one flapped away and I didn't pursue. It has tried to fly a couple of times. It has been now resting under the ladder by the garage door. Mom and dad are still around.

[gardenmom5]

I found a fledgling in our garage.  it got in through a window well.  I carefully placed it in a large box and set it on a deck that had no outside access. (eta: the deck was same end of the house where I "think" the nest was). the frantic parents were actually hanging around.   I closed the curtains to the deck - and the parents promptly swooped down to tend their baby.  it flew off 2 -3  days later.

Edited April 15, 2016 by gardenmom5

[livetoread]

We had a similar situation with a nest of sparrows. There were three babies and when the larger two fledged, the parents just left the smaller, weaker one alone on the ground. I was sure they would come back, but they never did and it died. Animal parenting can suck sometimes.

[Mabelen]

Well, I went out to check on them and the chick is not around. So either, we had a very happy ending or a very sad one!

[hornblower]

if you want to see a little baby patient at the rehab: https://www.instagram.com/p/BEOws1LNBJG/?taken-by=wildliferescuebc

 

Pls, always check your hedges before spring pruning! 

[Laura Corin]

Pls, always check your hedges before spring pruning! 

 

Illegal to disturb wild bird nests in the UK.  You have to wait until the chicks have flown to prune if there's an active nest:

 

http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/advice/gardening/planting/hedges/the_law.aspx

[Tanaqui]

It's not legal to disturb the nests of native birds in America either, with a very small number of exceptions.

 

Note: This applies to native birds. Starlings, pigeons, and other non-natives do not qualify for this protection so long as you've positively identified the bird/nest/eggs.

 

http://www.sialis.org/mbta.htm

[hornblower]

oh just realized I wasn't clear - yes, I meant if you check you hedge and find a nest, you can't prune :) 

[Laura Corin]

It's not legal to disturb the nests of native birds in America either, with a very small number of exceptions.

 

Note: This applies to native birds. Starlings, pigeons, and other non-natives do not qualify for this protection so long as you've positively identified the bird/nest/eggs.

 

http://www.sialis.org/mbta.htm

 

That's interesting: I don't know if we have that native/introduced distinction - the law says 'wild' birds, but I don't know how that is defined.  We have a large number of introduced birds, mostly game birds and some escaped ornamentals (parakeets, etc.):

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-native_birds_of_Great_Britain

[UCF612]

That happened at our house. One baby died in the nest. Two got out, one looked way stronger than the other. The weak one died and the strong one vanished. We like to imagine he flew away! The mom bird stopped coming to the nest when they got out. We don't know why. It was sad. We didn't mess with them at all.

[Mabelen]

The weaker chick is out there this morning in the exact same spot again. We just left it there.

[Tanaqui]

The mom bird stopped coming to the nest when they got out. We don't know why. It was sad. We didn't mess with them at all.

 

I believe something like a quarter of all chicks die before they're a year old, possibly the number is higher.

 

This bird has multiple chicks every clutch, and it's possible she has two or three clutches a year. To devote the sort of attention to her offspring that humans do would be an exorbitant use of her resources. Species that have more plentiful offspring usually give them less attention that species that have fewer.