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Jo S. asks: “Last night I found two tiny birds in my driveway next to some bushes. I moved one further in underneath and then wondered if I should have touched him at all. The other I moved only a small amount, lifting with stiff paper … Alas, this morning he was dead on his side in the driveway. I named him June Bird and we buried him next to our former pet cat. I don’t know if the other one made it … Online advice seemed to be to leave the baby bird where he was, as they spend time on the ground before they fly. It was so sad to see he did not make it through the night. My question: What is the right thing to do here? Should I have tucked him in under the bushes? Is there any way I could have given him water … with an eyedropper? What might he eat? I know many baby birds do not make it. I would be grateful for advice on what to do if this happens again.”
From the video, it appears that you found two baby cardinals. My family encountered a similar situation a number of years ago. We found a baby bird in our basement. (It had apparently fallen down a chimney.) The little brown bird had a feather that popped up on its head like a cowlick. We called a wildlife rehabber, who told us to put the bird in a box in the crotch of a tree and the parents would take it from there. We found a box and placed the bird in a tree as instructed. The parents, a pair of cardinals, soon found and attended to the peeping bird. The energetic youngster did not stay in the box for long, though. It soon jumped onto a flap of the box, then fell or jumped to the ground, where it hopped about. The parents continued to fly around it, and the young bird disappeared into the bushes never to be seen again by us. We hope it was able to avoid predators and grow up to have a good life.
The birds you found also appear to be fledgling cardinals. You did the right thing. Fledglings have feathers and can hop about on their own. They look scraggly, but that’s just the way they are. In the video you sent, a fledgling peeps pitifully, calling out to its parents. This is a good sign; this is what it should be doing. The bird does not appear to be injured. (A fledgling is injured if it has a broken limb or is bleeding or shivering.)
Unless a fledgling is injured, it is best to leave it alone. The parent birds find and take care of fledglings. Their odds of survival are best when nurtured and taught by the parents. When a cardinal fledgling learns to fly, it often hops or flutters out of the nest, ending up on the ground. From there, the parents feed and protect it while the bird matures. This is a very vulnerable time for a fledgling, and many do not make it – a sad fact of life. Low survival rates, however, keep the population in balance with the food supply.
It is a myth that touching a baby bird will cause the parents to reject it. Cardinals, like most birds, do not have a good sense of smell. Moving the fledgling bird off the driveway and under a bush was helpful and did not lower its chances of survival.
Fledgling cardinals are a handful. They often leave the nest when they are only about a week old, but they cannot fly well until they are 19 days old, and they don’t become fully independent until they are 45 days old. One study indicated that only about 58 percent of fledgling cardinals survive. The parents feed them on the ground during this period and try to scare away predators, but many predators eat baby birds. In addition to predators, cold or wet weather can doom these exposed youngsters.
What happened to the two birds you discovered? We have had quite a bit of cold and wet weather recently, so one of your birds might have succumbed to the elements. We can only hope the other one, supported by its parents, survived. During the day, each parent feeds a fledgling cardinal two to four times per hour. The parents are less active at night, but they were probably nearby. The feeding process continues for two months or more! Cardinals feed their young longer than most other birds.
You did the right thing by leaving the young fledglings alone. Giving them water is a bad idea: Young birds do not drink water, but get all the fluids they need from food provided by the parents. (Insects, berries and caterpillars have a high water content.) If you had tried to give the bird water with an eye dropper, it could have inhaled the water into its lungs. This can be fatal for a fledgling bird.
What could you have done differently? Not much. Since you found these birds at night, and they were well-feathered, they were old enough to be out on their own. They did not appear to be injured and were peeping to let the parents know where they were. Moving one off the driveway and under the bushes was a good choice. You probably could have tucked the second one under the bushes, too, but, alas, this may not have made a difference in its survival. Under normal conditions, fledglings do not need human intervention overnight.
If the birds had been featherless babies with closed eyes, the story would have been different. Babies would have needed help. Putting babies back in the nest is the best option, if you know where it is. If not, it makes sense to put the birds in a box or basket lined with a towel and a heating pad to keep them warm overnight until you can call a rehabber for advice in the morning. Remember, though, federal and state laws make it illegal to keep wild birds.
If a similar situation occurs, here are some people you can call according to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic: Cambridge or Somerville animal control, Tufts Wildlife Clinic, Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife or the Animal Rescue League of Boston. Mass.gov has a page that helps find a wildlife rehabber.
Mass Audubon has a handy guide about what to do if you find a baby bird.
Have you taken photos of our urban wild things? Send your images to Cambridge Day, and we may use them as part of a future feature. Include the photographer’s name and the general location where the photo was taken.
Jeanine Farley is an educational writer who has lived in the Boston area for more than 30 years. She enjoys taking photos of our urban wild things.
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