The story of a young bird falling: I know you want to pick it up, but don’t pick it up yet

Q: I picked up a baby bird. It can't fly yet, refuses to eat or drink, and its spirit is getting worse and worse. How can I save it?

Every year at the turn of spring and summer, we often receive the above questions about young birds.

But in fact, spring and summer are the critical stages for young birds to leave the nest and learn to fly. In this process, young birds are prone to accidentally falling from the nest due to various reasons, such as lack of flying skills, wind and rain, lack of physical strength, etc. When this happens, we always instinctively want to "lend a hand" to these cute and helpless little lives, but we find that the young birds we bring home neither eat nor drink, and their mental state is getting worse and worse, and they always end up in sadness.

So should we take a fallen baby bird home? In what situations do we need to rescue it? How can we rescue it effectively? This article will answer your questions one by one.

- 01 -

Don't pick up baby birds if you see them on the road

In most cases, when a baby bird accidentally falls out of the nest, its parents do not stay away. They just temporarily avoid it because of people approaching. After the people leave, they will quickly return to continue caring for the baby bird and guide it to learn to fly.

Therefore, when you encounter a baby bird leaving the nest, if there are no obvious signs that the baby bird is injured or in immediate danger of life, the best thing to do is to keep your distance. Never rashly pick up the baby bird and take it home to feed it, otherwise you will be "kidnapping" their baby right under the noses of the bird parents!

If the young bird falls in a place with heavy traffic or heavy pedestrian flow, we can move the young bird to a quieter and more secluded place nearby, or find a taller and safer tree nearby, put it on a tough small branch, and then we can leave without worry.

Don't worry that the young bird will be abandoned by its parents if it is contaminated with human scent. Parent birds will not rely on smell to identify their young birds, nor will they abandon young birds that have been touched by people. Returning the young bird immediately is the safest way for the young bird.

Just like human children need the company of their parents, wild young birds also need the care of their parents and the development of survival skills (foraging, communication, avoiding predators, etc.). If you intervene forcefully and bring the young birds home hastily, it will not only destroy the natural learning process of the young birds, but the young birds will also be less likely to survive because they are separated from their parents too early, which will pose more risks to their growth.

When getting along with wild animals, we need to respect the laws of nature. Unless necessary, less intervention and less disturbance is precisely the best help for young birds.

- 02 -

Tips for encountering young birds

If we encounter a fallen baby bird on the road, how can we determine whether it is injured? Does it need our help? How can we provide effective rescue?

Step 1: Observe whether the young bird has any injuries or illness, such as bleeding or other obvious external injuries, drooping wings, trembling, etc. If there are obvious external injuries or illness, please contact a professional organization. You can call the local 12345 or directly contact the local forestry department or terrestrial wildlife rescue center for guidance and help; if there are no obvious external injuries or illness, then we need to make further judgments on the young bird itself.

Step 2: Determine which stage of growth the baby bird is in.

If the baby bird is completely hairless or very sparsely covered with down or feathers, and is unable to hop, walk, flutter, or grasp at your fingers, it may have accidentally fallen from the nest.

Chicks whose feathers have not yet fully grown need to be returned to the nest

In this case, what we need to do is to find a way to send it back to the nest. The nest is very likely nearby, so just put it back as soon as possible (the nest may be hidden and you need to look carefully for it).

Sub-adult birds with fuller wings are usually practicing flying.

If the young birds have already grown feathers, this means that they are sub-adult birds, equivalent to teenagers, and are in the stage where the young birds naturally fly.

"Flying out" means that the young birds come out of the nest and practice flying and foraging on nearby branches and grass. The young birds that have just flown are not yet proficient in flying skills and are still practicing. At this time, their parents often hide nearby to protect them and continue to feed them for a while.

Most of the birds picked up are young birds learning to fly. They have just left the nest and are not very good at flying, but they are still under the care of their parents and do not need human help. These young birds have almost grown their feathers and jump on the ground or branches, flapping their wings to practice short-distance flights, and their claws can firmly grasp people's fingers or small branches.

Juvenile bird with claws capable of grasping fingers or branches

Young birds learning to fly rarely return to the nest after leaving it, so even if you find the nest, do not put them back. Even if you put them back, they will jump out immediately.

Generally speaking, you only need to put these babies on nearby branches, away from roads and people, and there is no need for any other human intervention. Bird parents may take care of 4-5 babies at several different locations at the same time, but they will always return to the baby you found. If you are worried, you can quietly observe nearby.

In short, please remember: when you encounter a baby bird, you must first make a rational judgment and never pick it up and take it home rashly!

- 03 -

Baby Bird Rescue Guide

If you find that both parents are dead, the chicks are injured, the nest cannot be found, or you are 100% sure that the chicks have been abandoned and need human intervention and rescue, please refer to the following:

01

environment

Try to choose a small cardboard box with a lid that is light-proof and breathable. This can reduce the bird's stress response without damaging the bird's feathers.

Never use a birdcage! Never use a birdcage! Never use a birdcage! I can’t stress this enough!

Bird cages can harm the bird's wings. Once the flight feathers are damaged, it will not only affect the young bird's ability to fly, but also prolong the time it takes to resume normal flight, which in turn will delay the young bird's return to the wild. This may cause it to miss important stages in its growth, such as learning important survival skills such as foraging and escaping from predators.

02

Hydration

If you don't know the bird's diet, don't feed it rashly (not all birds eat rice like chickens), but you can give it water. Birds will have a stress response when they are injured or in contact with people, which will lead to dehydration. At this time, you can use a dropper (if you don't have a dropper, you can use a towel dipped in water) to drop a little water in the corner of the bird's mouth and let it swallow it by itself.

03

Contact professional organizations for help

After the above emergency measures are completed, you should immediately contact the local forestry department or wildlife rescue center. When contacting, please inform the bird's condition and approximate size as much as possible. It would be even better if you know what kind of bird it is.

Please dial (area code) +12345. In Nanjing city, you can also call the Jiangsu Province and Nanjing City Wildlife Rescue Center directly at 025-85620178.

Note: Taking the bird home without permission will only make you miss the best time to rescue it!