Found a baby bird? What to do…
Symptoms of a bird with an injury or illness can include falling over on its side, a wind tweaked upward, inability to flutter wings, drooping wings, spearing to be shivering or weak, unusually fluffed feathers, and bleeding of any kind.
If you notice any of these symptoms call a wild life rehabilitator in your area.
CDFW South Coast Regional Office 858-467-4201
Wildlife Health Laboratory 916-358-2790
Cal-TIPS 800-541-4591
Observe the baby bird continuously for 60 – 90 minutes from a distance of 50 feet to see if parents appear. Watch carefully, as parents tend to fly in and out quickly.
If you have a bird in a box, check the feces: clear with white poop (or green bile) indicates a baby bird is not being fed, and it likely abandoned.
Color in the poop indicates that the parents are feed the baby, and the bird should be put back where it was found.
If you believe you have found an abandoned bird, call a wild life rehabilitator in your area.
CDFW South Coast Regional Office 858-467-4201
Wildlife Health Laboratory 916-358-2790
Cal-TIPS 800-541-4591
Naked and pin-feather birds should be kept warm while trying to locate the nest. The babies will get chilled quickly. (read temporary care instructions)
The entire nest of birds can be placed in a small tissue filled wicker basket or butter tub with drainage holes in the bottom.
Nail it to a tree in a safe location from the crows and hawks. Be sure that a branch shades them to keep them from getting sunburned.
One single bird must be returned to the original nest with his siblings.
The parents will only sit on and feed in one nest.
If the nestling cannot be returned call a wild life rehabilitator in your area.
CDFW South Coast Regional Office 858-467-4201
Wildlife Health Laboratory 916-358-2790
Cal-TIPS 800-541-4591
Fledglings are baby birds that have feathers and short tails, and can perch, hop or walk.
They are learning to fly. This is a process that may take two weeks.
They should be left alone to practice hopping and fluttering from low shrub branches to the ground.
The parents are close by, and continue to feed the babies until they learn to fly and eat on their own.
Parents will guide the fledglings into the bushes at night to hide from predators.
Keep pets and children indoors so that the parents will return to the baby.
If a bird can perch on your finger, place it on a branch in a bush near an area where you found it.
If you found it in a high traffic area, move it to a safe place under the cover of bushes.
Parents communicate with their young by a series of voice calls.
They are able to locate their babies and move them where they wish.
At a distance (indoors is best) watch continuously for one hour for the parents to return. The parents fly in and out very quickly.
If the parents don’t return call a wild life rehabilitator in your area.
CDFW South Coast Regional Office 858-467-4201
Wildlife Health Laboratory 916-358-2790
Cal-TIPS 800-541-4591
Did You Know?
Parent birds will feed their baby birds after you have touched them. Yes, that is true!
Birds have a poor sense of smell and parents won’t know that you have touched their babies.
They will even be foster parents for an abandoned baby of the same species and age as their own young.
Parents will search for their babies 24 to 48 hours after absence.
Most birds have their own territories. Even if the have grown and gone, the parents remain in their home territory, waiting to welcome their babies home.