Baby Birds

WHAT IF I FIND A BABY BIRD?

Immediately Contact the RMBC at 208/338-0897

Find a small cardboard box or carrier and line it with a small towel. Next roll a second small towel into a doughnut like nest for the baby birds. This would prevent the babies from flopping or rolling around during transport. Immediately take them to the Ruth Melichar Bird Center at 4650 N. 36th in Boise.

In nature, young birds sometimes become separated from their parents and need help. If you have determined after watching for a long period of time that the bird is in fact orphaned or otherwise ill, injured or cold, intervention is necessary. In many cases, however, when baby birds appear to be orphaned they actually have parents in the vicinity that are caring for them. A very large percentage of young birds are picked up by humans unnecessarily.

If you see a baby bird in the spring/summer season that is clearly helpless and featherless or partially feathered this is a hatchling or a nestling bird. If the nest can be located please put the bird back into the nest. The parents will take over from there. Please watch for a period of time to make sure you see the parents go back to the nest. If you’ve touched the bird, this will not deter the parent bird from tending to their young.

MAKE SHIFT NEST

If you cannot locate the original nest you can make a make shift nest.

Use a plastic berry box, basket or a planter with drain holes. Use non absorbent material for the bedding. (Imagine a birds nest in the wild) Do not use grass or anything the birds can get tangled up in. Secure the nest in the shady part of the original tree, a tree nearby or a shrub close to where you found the bird.

Parent birds will biologically respond to their baby birds food calls and will locate their young to feed them.

Observe for the day to make sure you witness activity between the parent bird and the baby.

Parent birds will come to the nest to feed their young and in a flash they are gone. Make sure you are watching diligently.

FLEDGLING BIRD

If you see a youngish looking bird in the spring/summer season that presents with downy immature feathering and has short tail feathers it is a fledgling. You will notice most times that the bird is grounded and wandering around. To the observer the bird may appear injured or orphaned. The parent birds are close by and will go to their young to feed them. The parent birds are also teaching these young birds how to fly and forage. These young birds should be left alone. Put your cats and dogs inside!!!!!

It should take no more than 3 days for the birds to start learning how to fly and be safely off the ground. In the interim of their education you can place the bird up in the crotch of a tree or somewhere safe off the ground to help protect the bird from predation.

BABY DUCKS

Baby ducks found alone are just that..alone and orphaned. Larger numbers can be orphaned http://idahowildliferescue.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/ducklings-cropped1.jpegalso, which takes a little more doing for successful capture of all of them. If you find yourself with a duckling or ducklings, do not put them in water, but keep them dry and warm and call the bird center immediately (208/338-0897). As cute as they are, baby ducks are extremely fragile to raise.