Picture this: you step outside your front door to enjoy another summer’s day, when, suddenly, you hear a faint peeping coming from somewhere in your bushes nearby. You crouch down to take a closer look and discover a small, flightless little bird on the ground, seemingly alone and away from its nest.

What do you do now? Many people’s first instinct would be to immediately call a wildlife rehabilitator, but that isn’t always necessary or even recommended. When you find a young bird in your yard, the most important first step is figuring out whether it actually needs help.

So how do you know when it’s time to act? We asked Bob Mulvihill, the lead ornithologist of the National Aviary, what a person should do—and what they should avoid—if they find a baby bird on the ground. That way, no matter if you’re a bird lover, a bird watcher, or simply someone who wants to do the right thing when they find a tiny wild bird in need, knowing how to respond can make all the difference. Here’s what he had to say so you won’t be questioning if you should pick up a baby bird or not.

What to Do If You Find a Baby Bird in Your Yard

Finding a baby bird in your yard can be alarming, especially when your first instinct is to pick it up and help it find its way back home. However, not every baby bird outside the nest is in danger, and stepping in too soon can sometimes do more harm than good. Because of this, the first thing you need to determine is whether you’ve found a nestling or a fledgling. Here’s what a wildlife expert says how you can tell and when you should intervene.

Is It a Nestling or Fledgling? Here’s How to Tell the Difference

Not every baby bird that you see outside of the nest is necessarily in trouble. There is a big difference between “nestlings,” which are newly-hatched babies too underdeveloped to leave the nest, and “fledglings,” which are young birds that are developmentally ready to leave the nest, even if they’re aren’t yet strong flyers. The difference in age between a nestling and a fledgling can be very slim, as little as 10-14 days depending on species, according to Mulvihill, but that distinction is vital in determining whether or not outside intervention is needed.

“At this time of year, wildlife rehabilitators are inundated with ‘orphaned’ baby birds brought in to them by well-meaning members of the public. The reason for this stems from people mistaking fledgling baby birds for nestling birds.” Mulvihill explains. “As many as nine times out of ten, rescued baby birds turned in at wildlife rehabilitation facilities are, in fact, recent fledglings under parental care that should simply have been left alone.”

If you’re in doubt as to whether a tiny bird is a nestling or fledgling, take a closer look. According to Mulvihill, not all fledglings will have their wing or tail feathers fully grown in, but they will at least have grown their first full coat of true feathers, aka “juvenile feathers.” So if the bird is stub-tailed but otherwise has feathers, well-developed legs, and open eyes, it’s old enough to be a fledgling. On the other hand, if the bird has unopened eyes, underdeveloped legs, and/or large patches of bare skin (or immature feathers still mostly in their sheaths) then it’s most likely a nestling and too young to be on its own.

Why a Baby Bird on the Ground May Not Need Help

If you find a bird on the ground, your first instinct may be to rescue it. However, if it’s a fledgling, leaving it alone is often the best thing you can do. After all, a fledgling that is not yet capable of flight is still likely being cared for by their parents, it just might take a little longer for said parents to get around to them!

“Fledgling birds and their siblings do not stay together when they leave their nest, rather, they leave the nest one after the other, hopping or fluttering off in multiple directions. The parent birds are very anxious at fledging time, and may seem stressed as they try to keep track of their dispersed young, both visually and through their high-pitched begging calls,” Mulvihill explains. “Because the parents no longer have all their young in one basket, so to speak, they must now provide food to each fledgling in turn, and that means it could be 20, 30, 40 minutes or even an hour in between feeding trips to each of their young. But people sometimes come across a baby bird, watch and don’t see it being fed for five or ten minutes, or get distracted and miss a quick feeding trip by one of the parents, and believe that the young bird hasn’t been fed for even longer than that, and they decide to snatch it up in order to ‘save’ it.”

In short, a flightless fledgling out of its nest usually has all the help it needs from its parents, and should usually be left alone. Though there are exceptions.

When a Fledgling Actually Needs Help

While most fledglings are exactly where they need to be, there are a few situations where human intervention is necessary. If you have cats or dogs, Mulvihill strongly advises keeping them on a leash outside, especially during June and July, the peak of baby bird season. Additionally, if a little bird has fledged onto a dangerous spot like a busy sidewalk or roadway, it is perfectly fine to pick them up and carefully move them to the nearest safe spot with vegetation to hide them and don’t worry about “leaving your smell” on them.

“It is an old wives tale that parent birds will abandon their young if they detect human scent on them,” Mulvihill assures. “Songbirds do not have a well-developed sense of smell, and parent birds will continue to care for young that have been moved out of harm’s way.”

How to Help a Nestling Baby Bird

Even though 9 times out of 10, a fledgling out of its nest won’t need any help. That isn’t the case with nestlings, though. According to Mulvihill, the only two reasons that a nestling would fall out of the nest are if the nest itself has fallen or if it’s been disturbed by a predator. Unlike fledglings, nestlings can’t survive on the ground for long, so they need immediate help if they’ve fallen from the nest.

Before you call a wildlife rehabilitator, though, assess the situation. If the nestling was discovered soon after falling from their nest, check to see if they’re uninjured and if the nest is still in place. If both are true, then you can simply carefully put the baby bird back in the nest. If the nest is gone, but the concerned parents are nearby, Mulvihill says that you can put the nestlings in a makeshift nest (e.g., a berry box with some grass in it) and securely attach it as close as possible to the site of the original nest. Once you leave, the parents should return and continue caring for their young in their new nest.

When to Call a Wildlife Rehabilitator

If the nestling you found appears injured, has seemingly been out of the nest for hours, or both the nest and their parents are gone, then you need to get them to a wildlife rehabilitation center right away. Mulvihill warns rescuers not to give the baby bird food or water, but to keep them warm and safe by putting them in a box with a clean, dry towel or blanket until the bird can be surrendered to the wildlife rehabbers.

The #1 Mistake People Make With Baby Birds

What’s the number one thing you shoudn’t do if you find a baby bird on the ground? When you come across a tiny baby bird that appears helpless, it can be tempting to try to care for it yourself. However, one of the biggest mistakes people make is attempting to rehabilitate a wild bird without proper training.

“Human bird rescuers may try to keep and feed the baby bird themselves, but this not only is illegal (licensed wildlife rehabilitators have studied, trained, and taken tests before being awarded their rehabilitation license), but also is ill-advised,” warns Mulvihill.  “Baby birds must be fed the exact right kind of food in the right amounts in order to thrive, and only licensed rehabilitators have the experience and know-how to do that successfully.”

This is also why you shouldn’t feed a baby bird en route to the rescue, even if they seem hungry. Feed the bird the wrong kind of food, or too much or too little of it, and you could do a whole lot more harm than good. If you want to give your baby bird the best shot at survival (and who wouldn’t), then trust the experts to save the day!

Source:

• Bob Mulvihill, Lead Ornithologist for the National Aviary