Sweet Baby Bird

“God finds a low branch for the bird that cannot fly.”

Turkish Proverb

Look at this precious, sweet baby bird that the kids found today. Jake, my tender-hearted son, brought the little thing to me and told me that he was going to care for it because it had been abandoned. I could tell he had already planned out this little bird's life...how he was going to smoosh up worms, where he would build him a nest, what he would be called. I tried to explain to him that the bird was probably just learning how to fly and had not been abandoned at all. I pointed out how the little guy had feathers which meant that he was a fledgling...the neighbor kid swore up and down that the bird was fresh from the egg! I can understand that thinking because he was tiny.

To the horror of everyone, I suggested that the bird be placed back near the area where he was found. Well, I wasn't very convincing because Jake stood his ground and insisted that the bird had been left. I went on to tell Jake that the baby bird's parents were probably very nervous because their baby was gone. Jake looked at me and said, "I don't think they were because they were trying to attack me!"...WHAT!? Now, I'm feeling terrible because all I can think about is how some momma bird is out there somewhere running around trying to find her baby!

The bird had been named Taz. The kids really do think they are saving this little bird and they just can't wrap their minds around the fact that they have actually endangered him. I have sent Pete out to convince the kids to put it back. Let's hope he's more successful than I was....sigh...

Just so you know....

• It's a myth that if you touch a baby bird it's parents will no longer take care of it. In fact, birds have a poor sense of smell so they have no idea that anyone has touched their baby.

• Baby birds hydrate themselves through the liquid found in the regurgitated food that it's parents provide for it...they don't drink water like adult birds do. If offered water in a little bowl, they may aspirate some of the water and develop pneumonia. Not good!

• Nestlings sometimes fall out of their nests and it's perfectly ok to place them back into the nest. Nestlings look like little nudey birds! Sometimes they have some feathers...but it's pretty obvious that it's a newborn.

• Fledglings have feathers and usually are hopping on the ground looking like they have been abandoned! It can sometimes take fledglings 5-7 days to learn how to fly...we all develop at different paces don't we?!

Visit this article for a lot more info on orphaned birds.