Posted by Ann on May 11, 2005

Q: I also found a baby bird with no feathers, a big belly, hints of hair on its arms, a nub of a tail, and no apparent nest around. I fed it a worm and kept it warm with hot breath and when I took it home fed it rehydrated cat food. I made a nest and tied it to the bush that was near to it's discovery place, and checked on it a couple times (it was near my work). It was barely moving and definitely not chirping and no poop (as it did at home). It's chirps now and again here at home. I've been checking websites and talked to someone at the local wildlife rehabilitation center. They can't take it in, but advised to change the diet to sugar water (1 to 5).

It's body is just over an inch long and the head about .5 inch. It looks like the eye lids haven't opened yet, and looks like there are indentations for ears?

I took it home again tonight because it's supposed to rain and I saw that the small park that it was in has rat poison around and was informed that it quite infested at dark.

I would like to find out what kind of bird it is (I see small brown/tan ones around) and how old it is, so that I can give it the best care.

Thanks so much for any advice that you can give me.

Sincerely,

Ann

A: Ann, Thanks for your concern about this unfortunate creature. You described a very young bird that is unable to fend for itself, thus severely limiting its chances for survival.

I can't help you with the identification of the bird without a photograph plus a detailed description of the habitat and its location on the planet. If you provide me with more information I'll try to name the bird.

The parent birds feed their babies constantly from dawn to dusk with a variety of wild foods. This routine is almost impossible to replicate by even the best intentioned caregivers. This is usually why rehabilitation centers don't take in baby birds. Even if they do survive, they rarely live for more than a few days on their own once they're eventually released because they lack the skills taught to them by nature.

Birds as young as this get removed from the nest by a variety of causes i.e., siblings push it out as they compete for food brought by an adult, a predator removed it from the nest then dropped it, a parent removed it from the nest because it has an affliction, etc.

The number one thing to do is to put it back into the nest it came from. If this is impossible, then you've done the right thing by placing it on the ground near where you found it.

I wish you luck.

Jim Berry ( May 12, 2005)