i found a baby bird

i found a baby bird on the sidewalk. its alive but its hungry. what should i do??

Eeek. I don't know. I hate to open a thread like this and go 'la la la', but I have no idea. Do you have an emergency number for your vet?

i don't know. i don't even know if they'd do anything. i don't know what to feed it and its hungry.

OK get some wet dog or cat food and smush it up really good or get some dry cat food wet with water and mush it up....you should put some apple sauce in there to make it easier to go down or maybe a little water to make it go down easier for a little guy...get it warm but make sure it isn't too warm on your wrist or you can burn the little guys crop. You can feed it with a little straw with half of the top cut off or an eye dropper if ya have one...a little spoon would have to do if ya don't have anything else. I have only fed a baby sparrow so I don't know about all the rest but don't want the little guy to go hungry.

I just asked my friend and she said you can boil some rice and feed it some of the drained water.

Put it in a box or an old aqaurium tank if ya have one and put an old tshirt on the bottom to line it then some paper towels if ya have them. Then put a heating pad under half to keep the little guy warm. If you don't have one maybe a hot water bottle or a sock with rice heated in the microwave wrapped up in a towel by it. One of the most important things is keeping the little guy warm or it will chill and die.

In the morning call around vets offices and stuff and find a wilf life rehab center that knows how to take care of the little guy.

Good luck

The bird's very best bet for survival is for you to leave it alone.
Place it in some low tree branches if you must, but leave it be.

It is likely a fledgling.
Fledging is a very crucial time for baby birds.
They leave the nest and spend the next 3-5 days learning to fly by bopping about on the ground and they are also taught by their parents what's good to eat down there.

Mom and dad bird will still be taking care of the little ones, even if you do not see them.
They tend to not visit baby frequently so as not to attract predators to the fledgling.

Yes Arlyn is right if the little guy has feathers leave it be. I see baby bird and go into panic mode.

Originally Posted by Kaylacat

Yes Arlyn is right if the little guy has feathers leave it be. I see baby bird and go into panic mode.

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He didn't really have feathers yet. About 45 minutes ago I put him in a small box with some grass and put him in the tree where his nest is, just a few branches off the ground. I really hope he gets found by his mother but I don't think he will. Besides I had to touch him with my bare hands and you know what they say about that.

Here's two pictures:





Tomorrow morning I'll stop by where we found him and see if he's still in his little box.

Awww just a little guy. If he is still there and doesn't have any food in his crop tomorrow (will look like a bubble under his neck if it has food in it) then I would try to get him into a wild life rehab. Hope the little guy makes it.

Oh what a little cutie!!!

I've found baby birds before, but they didn't live too long. I couldn't keep them warm enough, I didn't have a heat lamp or anything.

What I fed them though (& this is gross) was a smashed up worm. Found a few in the yard, then some one else smushed them for me. I used a medicine dropper to feed it, & it liked it a lot.

Good luck with it, hope the little guy/girl survives!

Yeah, little guy.
Don't worry about handling him, birds actually have a very poor sense of smell.
If his parents are still around, they should come back.
But I second the rehabber if he isn't fed by tomorrow, birds can starve very quickly.

Poor little one, sending prayers that he makes it

I don't know what to do for little birds like that but I found you these links, maybe they will help.

http://www.ornithology.com/rehab.html
http://www.2ndchance.info/insecteater.htm
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Bi...rgencycare.cfm

Poor little bird! He's be dead by tomorrow

sorry about the lack of captilization. the bird is with me again. i gave it a bit of smashed up worm but it's just sort if sitting in his beak. should i "water" the worm down?

I was just reading the links I gave you. They are all helpful. The last one has the best advice. The first one says NOT to feed any baby birds...

"If the parent does not return within 1 hour to the nest or 2 hours to the baby on the ground, and you decide to take responsibility for the young bird, it is important to get it to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible. They are permitted by the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide care for wildlife. Keep the bird in a warm, dark and quiet place where they can't move around much, such as a small box and don't attempt to feed it. " http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/advice3.htm

What ever you decide to do, first thing in the morning contact the Wildlife rescue group. Infact, I would not delay, some places have a 24 hour help line. I would do a bit of reaserch and get a number, you never know you may be able to talk to someone tonight to help get you through untill the morning.

I found these links for you to call in the morning.

http://www.albertabirds.com/wildwest/WEAMS.htm

for this one scroll down a bit and you will get to the Canada section. Its a list of all the orginizations.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactI.htm

http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm There is a recipe on here that I used for the baby sparrow I raised.

It can be dangerous for someone that doesn't know what they are doing to feed a baby bird but they can't wait too long without food...so I would try to find a wild life rehab but if you can't in the morning then I would feed the little guy some wet dog or cat food mashed up really good with a tiny but of water (not watery or you can choke it) and make sure its warm but not too warm.

I gave him some watered down cat food. He's got this little lump in his throat.. I think that means that he's just eaten? He's asking for more food but I don't want to give him so much that gets a little Buddha belly. I don't know if he knows when to stop eating.

do birds sleep and tweet at the same time?

i also found a wildlife rehabilitator but it's for burrowing owls. should i still give them a call even though this is most likely a songbird?

I don't know about sleeping and peeping at the same time.

As for the burrowing owl place, I would call them. If they can't help they can probably put you in touch with someone who can.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I don't know about sleeping and peeping at the same time.

As for the burrowing owl place, I would call them. If they can't help they can probably put you in touch with someone who can.

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Now he's a bit more quiet, still moving and breathing. I'll probably be up all night and around 8 or 9 I'll give the burrowing owl place a call.