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 If You Find A Baby Bird...

     If you find a baby bird on the ground, please do not assume that it is
injured, orphaned or abandoned. The parents may be out collecting food,
or keeping an eye on junior from a distance.

If the baby bird is obviously injured, Please remember the following:

  • Handle the bird as little as possible. Place the bird in a suitably-sized & well ventilated container. Keep it in a warm and quiet place until you are able to take the bird to a wildlife rehabilitator.
  • DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GIVE IT FOOD OR WATER. Baby birds need special
    diets. The wrong food or incorrectly fed food or fluids may get stuck in
    the throat or enter the lungs. Birds raised on inappropriate diets may
    appear fine on the outside but can have serious deficiencies which are
    not visible to the eye.
  • It is illegal and cruel to keep wild birds as pets. You must hold
    state and federal wildlife rehabilitation permits to take care of and/or
    possess wild birds.
  • Wildlife rehabilitators take special care to make sure that baby
    birds are raised on the correct diet, with the appropriate behaviors and
    are equipped to cope in the wild. Giving the bird you find to a wildlife rehabilitator is in the best interests of the animal.

If the baby bird is naked or partially feathered:


     Look for the nest, which should be overhead or in a nearby tree, and
put the baby bird back. It is a myth that if you touch a baby bird the parents will not take it back; they will.
     If you cannot locate the nest or you cannot reach it, you can make a nest from a small, shallow box with holes in the bottom for drainage or a strawberry basket. Line it with grass and place it in a tree or bush as close as possible to where you found the baby. Watch from a distance. If the parents do not return in a few hours, contact a wildlife rehabilitator.

If the baby has feathers, a short tail and is on the ground:

     Don't put the bird back in the nest. Birds learn to fly from the ground up and they will jump out of the nest again. Their parents feed and care for them on the ground until they learn to fly. Watch form a distance, the parents are somewhere around, possibly out looking for food, and will return soon. If cats are a threat, try to scare them off (spraying gently with a hose works well) or put the baby in a thick bush or hedge. If the parents don't return after a few hours, contact a wildlife rehabilitator.