By Tony Croasdale, Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Center & BirdPhilly
The parents of baby birds will not abandon their chicks if a person touches them. This is completely untrue. This persistent false information gets untold numbers of birds killed every year.
Early in egg-laying, adult birds may abandon a disturbed nest, but they will not abandon chicks. They will most likely not even abandon well developed eggs. Birds may abandon a disturbed nest if the eggs are young because it is likely that predators will eat the eggs or young. But, once the eggs are well developed, and especially where there are chicks, the adults will not abandon them. They have put far too many resources in to their offspring to abandon them at that point.
Bird nests tend to be just big enough to hold the eggs. When the chicks hatch and grow, they will soon be too large for the nest. When the birds are fully feathered, they may not be able to fly but are no longer in the nest. When people find them at this stage, they will often take the bird to a wildlife rehab center or even worse, try to care for the bird at home. A human will not care for a bird better than its parents.
Here’s what you should do:
- If you see a fledgling (baby bird with feathers), just leave it. Its parents will come feed it.
- If the bird is on the sidewalk, put it in some cover, like a bush, so a cat or other predator doesn’t kill it.
- If the bird has little or no feathers, it is a nestling. If you find a nestling, put it in the nest if you can find it. If the nest is destroyed, you can put the nestlings in a small box and out it in a bush or a tree, and the parents will find them and care for them. You should take nestlings to a wildlife rehabilitation center only if you know the adults are dead or there is no way to put the young birds in the nest or somewhere safe.
Read more on this topic from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Wildlife rehabilitation experts:
- Tri-state Bird Rescue & Research (Newark, DE)
- Philadelphia Metro Wildlife Center (King of Prussia, PA)
- Wildlife Rehabilitation Support of Pennsylvania
