Baby Birds?????

[PollyannaMom]

DS just came in looking for a shoebox. When asked why, he and some other kids want to ... rescue a baby bird. He says an older neighbor boy scared the mother away. We say no, leave it where it is and leave the area; the mom will come back when she feels safe. But I still hear them out there, so I go to shoo them on to someplace else to play, and find out the neighbor boy actually moved the nest! - close to where it was, but gosh!! And that the little would-be do-gooders have actually already tried to bring it a worm.

What do I tell them now?

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

If the kids leave the bird alone the mother or father will find it. I would tell the kids to stay away from the bird and that while it is nice they wanted to help, they are not helping the baby this way. I'm sure the mother or father are up in the trees waiting to see them leave.

 

[tasha99]

They should move the nest back where it was and put the baby back in it (if they removed it). Unless it's a baby vulture, the mom's sense of smell will not detect that they were there. Hopefully they didn't mess the nest up too much . . .

 

[EMom]

In Texas, this is the time of the year that baby birds get kicked out of the nest and spend up to a week (sometimes more) hopping around until they learn to fly. My DD and her friends found two yesterday in the neighbor's yard just hopping like crazy. The parents were in trees nearby, keeping watch. Depending on how early they come out of the nest (which means how well developed their feathers are) they may be flying in a day or two.

I have guarded (meaning I tried to keep them in my backyard and away from cats and dogs) many, many baby birds over the past 15 years. Same pattern. They walk, hop, hop bigger, hop up to something low, fall off, hop up again, fly a foot down, eventually fly on to the A/C unit, fly/fall off that....etc. until they can make it on to a low branch. The parents may leave periodically to get food, but they always come back. If a squirrel approaches, he gets dive bombed.

I say leave that birdie alone.

 

[EMom]

I just noticed you're in Mass. Birdies up there may well be at a different stage than ours. What does the baby bird look like, feather-wise? How developed are they? Do they look like quills with no feathers or fuzz on them? Or is the bird fluffy? Anything else?

 

[PollyannaMom]

Emom - A little bit of fuzz left, but getting pretty fluffy.

So far, I'm following the advice to leave them alone. The kids will be in school all day today, which will guarantee the birds some peace, and the weather is warm enough, but also damp and grey - so the kids will probably play inside after school, and not be "observing" the birds too much.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Just an update, in case anyone has checked back. - The nest was empty when we got home from school today, so either the parents coaxed them to move somewhere safer while we were gone, or something got to them.

Hopefully it was option 1! Thank you for reading/posting.