So you've found a sick or injured bird, or a baby bird that you think has been abandoned. What should you do?
Hopefully, you're already familiar with your local wildlife rehabber, as we encourage everyone who offers nestboxes for cavity nesters to locate a rehabber that is federally licensed for songbird care before an emergency arises.
But maybe you're visiting this forum for the first time, you don't know a rehabber, and you need to know what to do right now. Or perhaps you do know a rehabber, but you're waiting for them to return your call. What do you do in the meantime? The following are provided as general guidelines to help you know what to do (if anything) before you contact a rehabber, or while waiting to be able to reach one. Please, read everything before doing anything!
ABANDONED or ORPHANED BABY BIRD
The first thing you must determine is -- is this baby bird truly abandoned? Just because you see a baby bird on the ground, unable to fly, does not necessarily mean that the parents have abandoned it.
Nestlings: Is this a very tiny, featherless nestling that may have fallen or been blown out of the nest, or been pushed out by a nestmate, or removed and dropped by a predator? Look for nearby nests or nestboxes, and you may be able to put the baby back in the nest with its nestmates, where it belongs. That is where it will have the best chance of survival. If there are no nests apparent, or you see a nest but cannot reach it, you may do the following:
Fashion a substitute nest from a clean plastic dish or small basket. If using a plastic dish, make drainage holes in the bottom. Line it with paper towels or facial tissue (not grass or pine needles). Nail or tack the nest in the tree close to where you found the baby. Do all this BEFORE placing the baby in the container! Then gently place the baby in the container, and back off and just OBSERVE. In most cases the parent birds will return and start feeding the baby. If, after watching for a while from a distance, you do not see the parent birds return, and you assume that the bird is an orphan, call the nearest wildlife rehabilitator immediately, and follow their advice. Do not attempt to give the baby food or liquids until speaking to the rehabilitator! You may do more harm than good.
Fledglings: Is the baby bird fully feathered, but sitting on the ground, unable to fly? Sometimes baby birds will fledge too early if frightened out of the nest. Occasionally the parent birds will call fledglings out too early if the nest is in danger of being raided by a predator. Sometimes a bird may be a "bad fledge" - something may actually be wrong with the bird that makes it unable to fly. But more often, you will see a fledgling on the ground when it is in the training stage - it is still learning to fly, but the parents are taking care of it. Often they will leave a fledgling for a short time to hunt food to bring to it. Don't rush in to "rescue" a fledgling that appears to be alone, unless the bird is about to go into the road or be attacked by a wild animal. If that is the case, pick the bird up carefully and place it out of harm's way. If there is a dog or cat or children nearby, and you fear the bird will be hurt, the best thing to do, if possible, is to leave the fledgling where it is and clear the area of animals and children, and then just back off and observe the fledgling. The parents may be nearby, and may have been frightened away. Once the danger has been removed, they may well return. (However, if the fledgling has already been attacked or injured, you should proceed as for injured or sick birds below.)
If the parent birds appear, and are feeding the baby, then there is no need to rescue it unless, after watching the bird for an hour or two, it still seems unable to fly, and you have reason to believe it may be in danger. In that case, there may be some reasons for intervening. If so, then get an old Easter or other wicker basket, place it in the tree at the location you saw the bird and its parent, and re-nest the bird immediately. Let the parents continue to feed it, care for it, teach it lifeskills, and teach it how to forage.
If, after watching for an hour or two, you are absolutely sure that the baby has been abandoned, then you can follow the steps below for sick or injured birds, including contacting a Wildlife Rehabber . This is essential for giving the fledgling the best chance of survival.
Some people have asked If I touch a baby bird, wont the parents abandon it? This is a myth! Most songbirds have a poorly developed sense of smell, and touching a baby will not cause the parents to abandon a baby.
SICK OR INJURED BIRD
In the case of a raptor or bird of prey or any bird with a long pointed beak, contact your local rehabber before handling!! This is very important as these types of birds can cause very serious injuries. The beaks and talons of some hawks are meant to tear apart its prey---your arm is no challenge. Some heron and egrets stab fish with their powerful beaks--your eyes look like they are moving in a sea of fluids. Seek advice BEFORE handling these birds!!
If a songbird truly needs treatment, gently place the bird into a cardboard box slightly larger than the bird itself (i.e. a shoebox or smaller) A small box keeps the bird confined so it can cause no further damage to itself if it panics, keeps the bird from sliding around in the box, plus provides a feeling of security.
Before placing the bird in the box,
1) Check to make sure the box has not held insecticides, herbicides, cleaning fluids, or any other toxin.
2) Punch some airholes in the box and crumple layers of white paper towels on the bottom. (Layering will give traction and keep the bird from splaying and possibly damaging the hips or legs; white because then it is easy to check the feces for signs of starvation or disease; paper towels and NOT bath towels because any type of loop material or frayed material may get wrapped around sharp little talons or tiny toes).
Place the bird into a quiet area (no TV sounds, no other animal sounds, no "predator" sounds like human voices). An unused laundry room or even a closet will work as a temporary shelter until transporting the bird.
Provide heat. For adult birds, place a heating pad set on the very lowest setting beneath a little less than one half of the box (this allows the bird to move to or from the heat as it needs). For unfeathered chicks this heat can be provided by a rice sock (a sock filled with rice and microwaved - test for heat by putting your fist into the very center of the sock) or a water bag (a regular ziplock bag halfway filled with hot water and sealed - test by laying the inside of your wrist against the bag for a few seconds). The temperature should be warm to your touch, but not hot.
Do not give water to the bird, nor give it anything to eat. If it is an adult injured bird, and it can stand and seems coordinated, water can be provided in a very shallow bowl (such as a baby food jar lid). For a shocky bird, an immature, or an uncoordinated bird do not offer water (it may fall in and drown, even in a small amount of water, or by wetting the bird it may cause a chill). Do not give water to an unfeathered bird with a spoon or an eyedropper--it is much too easy to get fluids into the air sacs. Giving the wrong foods (i.e. grain products to insectivores, unbalanced diets to any bird) can cause more damage than the original injury. An emaciated (starved) bird given food will cause it to use the last bit of energy trying to digest food, a dehydrated bird cannot process solids, and a cold bird's body goes into shut-down mode which can cause the food to sit unabsorbed and souring in the digestive tract.
If a rehabber has not returned the phone call within two hours, an emergency measure to keep the bird from dehydrating further is to place one fingertip in a mixture of four teaspoons water and one teaspoon of table sugar and lightly rub the side of the bill of an alert bird, taking care not to get water into the nares (nostrils). (Do not use this formula with woodpeckers, swallows, or chimney swifts--use plain water applied in the same way.)
The exception to this is in the case of a hummingbird, which has an extremely high metabolism. Offer the same mixture of sugar and water in the same proportions, but instead of applying it to the side of the beak, use a 3cc monojet style syringe (no needle) or fill a cocktail straw (those little red, thin straws used in cocktails or as coffee stirrers) and cover the other end with a finger to create a vacuum. Hold the straw directly in front of its beak with one droplet touching the tip of the beak. Hummingbirds drink by lapping with their tongues, and should be offered this sugar water formula every 15 minutes until it can be transported to a rehabber.
When transporting any bird to a rehabber, place the covered box out of the direct flow of air from the air conditioner, heater, or windows. Keep the radio off and noise to a minimum. Do not smoke or use any perfumes in the car (remove car deodorizers). In most vehicles, place the box on the floor in the middle seat to avoid jarring in case of a sudden stop.
In May 2006, this information was posted in response to an member's inquiry about finding baby Bluebirds in a nestbox that had been attacked by HOSP. This member had to try to take care of the babies by herself, because the rehabber would not be available for two days. Suggestions were posted on how she could manage until the rehabber opened.
Hopefully, you're already familiar with your local wildlife rehabber, as we encourage everyone who offers nestboxes for cavity nesters to locate a rehabber that is federally licensed for songbird care before an emergency arises.
But maybe you're visiting this forum for the first time, you don't know a rehabber, and you need to know what to do right now. Or perhaps you do know a rehabber, but you're waiting for them to return your call. What do you do in the meantime? The following are provided as general guidelines to help you know what to do (if anything) before you contact a rehabber, or while waiting to be able to reach one. Please, read everything before doing anything!
ABANDONED or ORPHANED BABY BIRD
The first thing you must determine is -- is this baby bird truly abandoned? Just because you see a baby bird on the ground, unable to fly, does not necessarily mean that the parents have abandoned it.
Nestlings: Is this a very tiny, featherless nestling that may have fallen or been blown out of the nest, or been pushed out by a nestmate, or removed and dropped by a predator? Look for nearby nests or nestboxes, and you may be able to put the baby back in the nest with its nestmates, where it belongs. That is where it will have the best chance of survival. If there are no nests apparent, or you see a nest but cannot reach it, you may do the following:
Fashion a substitute nest from a clean plastic dish or small basket. If using a plastic dish, make drainage holes in the bottom. Line it with paper towels or facial tissue (not grass or pine needles). Nail or tack the nest in the tree close to where you found the baby. Do all this BEFORE placing the baby in the container! Then gently place the baby in the container, and back off and just OBSERVE. In most cases the parent birds will return and start feeding the baby. If, after watching for a while from a distance, you do not see the parent birds return, and you assume that the bird is an orphan, call the nearest wildlife rehabilitator immediately, and follow their advice. Do not attempt to give the baby food or liquids until speaking to the rehabilitator! You may do more harm than good.
Fledglings: Is the baby bird fully feathered, but sitting on the ground, unable to fly? Sometimes baby birds will fledge too early if frightened out of the nest. Occasionally the parent birds will call fledglings out too early if the nest is in danger of being raided by a predator. Sometimes a bird may be a "bad fledge" - something may actually be wrong with the bird that makes it unable to fly. But more often, you will see a fledgling on the ground when it is in the training stage - it is still learning to fly, but the parents are taking care of it. Often they will leave a fledgling for a short time to hunt food to bring to it. Don't rush in to "rescue" a fledgling that appears to be alone, unless the bird is about to go into the road or be attacked by a wild animal. If that is the case, pick the bird up carefully and place it out of harm's way. If there is a dog or cat or children nearby, and you fear the bird will be hurt, the best thing to do, if possible, is to leave the fledgling where it is and clear the area of animals and children, and then just back off and observe the fledgling. The parents may be nearby, and may have been frightened away. Once the danger has been removed, they may well return. (However, if the fledgling has already been attacked or injured, you should proceed as for injured or sick birds below.)
If the parent birds appear, and are feeding the baby, then there is no need to rescue it unless, after watching the bird for an hour or two, it still seems unable to fly, and you have reason to believe it may be in danger. In that case, there may be some reasons for intervening. If so, then get an old Easter or other wicker basket, place it in the tree at the location you saw the bird and its parent, and re-nest the bird immediately. Let the parents continue to feed it, care for it, teach it lifeskills, and teach it how to forage.
If, after watching for an hour or two, you are absolutely sure that the baby has been abandoned, then you can follow the steps below for sick or injured birds, including contacting a Wildlife Rehabber . This is essential for giving the fledgling the best chance of survival.
Some people have asked If I touch a baby bird, wont the parents abandon it? This is a myth! Most songbirds have a poorly developed sense of smell, and touching a baby will not cause the parents to abandon a baby.
SICK OR INJURED BIRD
In the case of a raptor or bird of prey or any bird with a long pointed beak, contact your local rehabber before handling!! This is very important as these types of birds can cause very serious injuries. The beaks and talons of some hawks are meant to tear apart its prey---your arm is no challenge. Some heron and egrets stab fish with their powerful beaks--your eyes look like they are moving in a sea of fluids. Seek advice BEFORE handling these birds!!
If a songbird truly needs treatment, gently place the bird into a cardboard box slightly larger than the bird itself (i.e. a shoebox or smaller) A small box keeps the bird confined so it can cause no further damage to itself if it panics, keeps the bird from sliding around in the box, plus provides a feeling of security.
Before placing the bird in the box,
1) Check to make sure the box has not held insecticides, herbicides, cleaning fluids, or any other toxin.
2) Punch some airholes in the box and crumple layers of white paper towels on the bottom. (Layering will give traction and keep the bird from splaying and possibly damaging the hips or legs; white because then it is easy to check the feces for signs of starvation or disease; paper towels and NOT bath towels because any type of loop material or frayed material may get wrapped around sharp little talons or tiny toes).
Place the bird into a quiet area (no TV sounds, no other animal sounds, no "predator" sounds like human voices). An unused laundry room or even a closet will work as a temporary shelter until transporting the bird.
Provide heat. For adult birds, place a heating pad set on the very lowest setting beneath a little less than one half of the box (this allows the bird to move to or from the heat as it needs). For unfeathered chicks this heat can be provided by a rice sock (a sock filled with rice and microwaved - test for heat by putting your fist into the very center of the sock) or a water bag (a regular ziplock bag halfway filled with hot water and sealed - test by laying the inside of your wrist against the bag for a few seconds). The temperature should be warm to your touch, but not hot.
Do not give water to the bird, nor give it anything to eat. If it is an adult injured bird, and it can stand and seems coordinated, water can be provided in a very shallow bowl (such as a baby food jar lid). For a shocky bird, an immature, or an uncoordinated bird do not offer water (it may fall in and drown, even in a small amount of water, or by wetting the bird it may cause a chill). Do not give water to an unfeathered bird with a spoon or an eyedropper--it is much too easy to get fluids into the air sacs. Giving the wrong foods (i.e. grain products to insectivores, unbalanced diets to any bird) can cause more damage than the original injury. An emaciated (starved) bird given food will cause it to use the last bit of energy trying to digest food, a dehydrated bird cannot process solids, and a cold bird's body goes into shut-down mode which can cause the food to sit unabsorbed and souring in the digestive tract.
If a rehabber has not returned the phone call within two hours, an emergency measure to keep the bird from dehydrating further is to place one fingertip in a mixture of four teaspoons water and one teaspoon of table sugar and lightly rub the side of the bill of an alert bird, taking care not to get water into the nares (nostrils). (Do not use this formula with woodpeckers, swallows, or chimney swifts--use plain water applied in the same way.)
The exception to this is in the case of a hummingbird, which has an extremely high metabolism. Offer the same mixture of sugar and water in the same proportions, but instead of applying it to the side of the beak, use a 3cc monojet style syringe (no needle) or fill a cocktail straw (those little red, thin straws used in cocktails or as coffee stirrers) and cover the other end with a finger to create a vacuum. Hold the straw directly in front of its beak with one droplet touching the tip of the beak. Hummingbirds drink by lapping with their tongues, and should be offered this sugar water formula every 15 minutes until it can be transported to a rehabber.
When transporting any bird to a rehabber, place the covered box out of the direct flow of air from the air conditioner, heater, or windows. Keep the radio off and noise to a minimum. Do not smoke or use any perfumes in the car (remove car deodorizers). In most vehicles, place the box on the floor in the middle seat to avoid jarring in case of a sudden stop.
In May 2006, this information was posted in response to an member's inquiry about finding baby Bluebirds in a nestbox that had been attacked by HOSP. This member had to try to take care of the babies by herself, because the rehabber would not be available for two days. Suggestions were posted on how she could manage until the rehabber opened.
Quote:
Bet from CT
Member
(5/14/06 8:02 am)
Of course rehabber has the best shot so keep trying. See here to locate others: www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm
Keep babies warm in a quiet dark room (dont' let cats or kids in.) A heating pad on low, hot water bottle, or reptile lamp (sold at pet stores) or chick/duckling lamp (sold at feed stores) works, but don't turn it up too high and fry them! A 250-watt
heat lamp bulb or 100- or 150-watt incandescent bulb will provide enough heat - you want to keep the area around the babies at about 95 degrees. The lamp should be hung
(using a porcelain socket to prevent overheating) 2 feet
above the babies. If it is comfortable for your hand (for 3 to 5 minutes) directly under the lamp, it will probably be comfortable for the babies.
Do not feed water/liquids! You can injure or even "drown" them.
Feeding: They need to be fed every 20 minutes (40 then 60 when older), for 13 hours a day. e.g., start around 7, end at 8. No feeding needed at night (parents don't feed them either.)
If you have mealworms, use them - I crush head first so they dont' wiggle. You can also make a mash.
Use a 1cc syringe without the needle, making sure you are past the windpipe (small hole behind the tongue), feed slowly small amounts watching the crop, stop the feeding when the crop stops emptying into the stomach, even if the bird keeps chirping. Should the crop stay full between feedings, do not feed again. Use a weak "White Table Vinegar" and water solution (about 3 drops of vinegar in a shot glass of water), in the syringe and insert a few drops of it into the crop, this should clear the impaction and restart regular feeding when the crop empties.
Baby Bird Mash Recipe
Equal quantities by volume of pulverized Kitten Chow to Rice Pabulum. (about 95% of the dry ingredients)
Small basically equal amounts of Avian Multi-vitamins.
Mix to a slightly runny paste with water. Let mixture set about 5 minutes to absorb the moisture.
A 1 or a 3 cc Syringe without the needle is the easiest way to feed the birds that gape, like songbirds and crows etc.
Some birds do not seem to know when they are full, so keep a close eye on their crops and never over fill. They can damage their crops by over eating.
Baby songbirds require feeding from every 20 minutes in the hatchling stage to every 40 minutes at the nestling stage to every hour at the fledgling stage.
If the babies won't open their mouths, GENTLY EVER SO GENTLY press against the sides of the beak to force the mouth open.
This is the best info I could find, sorry I am not more experienced on this.
*****************************************
Janie May
Middle name Baffled
(5/14/06 10:39 am)
Hi Jenn,
I called my local rehabber as soon as I read this (Cher e-mailed me) and she's read all of this thread. Since she's not a registered user, she sent this reply to my e-mail and I've done a copy/paste for your. Casey has rehabbed for many years and this is what she has to say:
Quote:Help for Jenni
Much of what Bet says is the right thing to do. I'm sorry I didn't take the time to read all of the posts so forgive me if I repeat what's already there. Here is a bit more information to help you make decisions.
11-14 days is a time when baby birds have already learned to fear anything other than their parents. If you have any of the birds gaping, that's a very good thing - much better than hunkering down in fear. They will pick up on each other's actions - if they see one gape and get food, the others will generally follow suit.
Wiping the blood off with a warm wet Q-tip was a good thing to do. It's hard to determine if there are injuries beyond the superficial and visible, but you at least know where those are now. If the bleeding has stopped, that's good. There will also be bruising at each one of those peck sites. That equals pain. Pain can make a bird lethargic. So can dehydration. You can't do anything for the pain, but you can for dehydration. Any blood loss will equal dehydration.
Bet is absolutely correct that you don't want to be dropping water down an open mouth. But putting a drop on the tip of a closed beak and letting it travel down to the soft beak edges where it joins the face, the water will find the crack and go into the bird's mouth. You'll see him swallow.
Keeping the birds warm is good, but at this age, with 4 of them in a nest to share body heat, and being partially feathered, you don't need to be shooting for 90 degrees. A heating pad set on low is good. The babies should be in a container that resembles the size of the cup of the nest they were in. That may seem small to you, but the closeness keeps their legs and feet tucked under them to prevent splaying. Small cream cheese containers, small ice cream bowls - that sort of size - lined with a lot of toilet tissue. Wind the t.p. around your hand several times loosely, then sort of turn it off your hand with a twist tucking in the bottom so you end up with a sort of cup shape and put that into the container you're using for a nest. Have someone (kids?) make a lot of these and each time you need to clean the nest (important!) pick each baby up and put it into a clean t.p. nest that's in another container and keep the 2 containers in rotation. Keep that conatiner with the t.p. lining inside another container (like a small Rubermaid storage container - maybe even a shoebox size one). Keep that container on the heating pad and place a cloth napkin over the whole thing. This keeps it dark - remember these are cavity nesters - and keeps the neat inside. When you lift up the napkin you're likely to induce gaping just from that motion. If you see the birds hanging over the edge of their nest bowl with their mouths, panting, it's too hot. Move the larger container to half on and half off the heating pad set to low.
As far as timing for feeding - first make sure that all are pooping. Keep up the water drops until you see a poop from each of them. Then you can start food. Every 45-60 minutes, from sun up to sun down, feeding as much as each will take. Toward the end of the day they will not be as hungry as they are at the first feedings of the morning. I know this sounds imprecise but they are individual birds with individual needs. Mealworms are great. It helps to have a pair of tweezers or hemostats for the feeding tool. The downside to mealworms is that as a sole source of food they are calcium depleting and birds only a week away from fledging need to have very strong bones for that first flight or tumble from the box. To augment the calcium in the mealworms, here's a formula that will help - you can use it to dip the mealworms in or use it as a straight food for some feedings. But not all. Solid food like mealworms, along with their texture and active enzymes is essential to their development.
1 cup high quality kitten kibble. WalMart's Maxximum is very good. Iams is also good. Soaked in 1 cup warm water until the water is absorbed and the kibble is no longer crunchy.
Two hard cooked egg whites - no yolk - chopped
The number of calcium carbonate tablets plus vitamin D that will equal 1800-2000mg. calcium, crush the tablets up. - probably 3 or 4
Put all of this into a blender. You should end up with something that looks like thin Dijon mustard.
This is by no means an adequate long term diet! But it does fill the gap for a few days. It also provides moisture. Dip the mealworm into the formula or use a 1cc oral tip syringe to feed. If you aim the food to the bird's right side of his mouth, to the back of the mouth, that will reduce the chance of the bird aspirating food. Make sure you see them swallow.
After each feeding, there should be poop. At this point, there should still be a fecal sac which makes clean up easy if you pick up the sac ASAP. Because of the food change and the stress, no fecal sac would not be a surprise. Once the birds are in a rehabbers care they should return to normal g.i. processing but you may not see that.
For the non-gapers - try the drops of water every 15 minutes. Once you get a poop - which shows that the g.i. tract is processing, if you still need to force feed, you may have to open the beak and the only way to do this will be to hold the bird in your hand and use a thumbnail slid into the soft flanges at the face end of the beak - keep your thumb in to keep the mouth open while putting food in. Close the beak, make sure the bird swallows. It's not fun and hopefully you won't have to do this often.
Please contact me directly with any other questions or issues that come up. I'm not actively rehabbing for a few years, but if I can help in this capacity, I will gladly do so.
Casey
pclevitt@gmail.com
Cher ~ Central NY
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BluebirdNut.com - Bluebird Information, Education and Awareness
Bluebird Nut Cafe - Bluebird Discussion Forum
Bluebird Gift Shop - Bluebird-Themed Merchandise and Gifts
TMB Studios Shop - Gifts with Distinction
TMB Studios - Graphic design, Web design, Photography, and more
