Raising A Baby Bird

Raising A Wild Baby Bird

This site is family safe. However, the information herein is intended for adult use.

Perhaps you have found a chick that has fallen out of it's nest in the past. Or maybe you will in the future. Do you know what you are supposed to do in such a situation? I myself have raised a baby house sparrow that fell out of its nest. Things turned out alright despite some major mistakes that I had made. I am no expert whatsoever, but given that information is hard to obtain, I will relay my experiences in order that certain errors are not repeated by other caretakers. This is a really long text as I want to be absolutely clear and as detailed as I can be.

No matter what, it is very strongly advised that you seek professional help by contacting a prefessional wildlife rehabilitation center. Use this link to find one in or near your community: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm This link does not contain all professional rehabilitation centers though. Check your local yellow pages, or ask a veterinarian, animal shelter, or wildlife officer if they may know of a center near you. Be aware that for the non-professional, the chances of survival for the chick are extremely low. On top of this, there are other benefits that a professional bird rehabilitator can offer that cannot be offered in the home: Complete nutrition, medical assistance, proper housing, and proper pre-release care. My intention for the use of the information on this page is to help those who simply have no other choice but to care for the birds themselves. It is not a replacement for the expert care that would be given at a wildlife rehabilitation center.

As stated above, my experience is with a European House Sparrow, but I have received lots of information regarding other species, so most, if not all of the information should apply to the smaller species of birds. For species such as Owls, Hawks, Falcons, Eagles, Herons and Egrets, Gulls, Terns, etc., I do not recommend using this information. They have different and much more specific care needs, and you should call ANYONE that could help (Rehabilitator, Vet, Zoo) For Ducks, Grouse, Partridge, shorebirds such as Killdeer, Sandpipers, etc., and other wild fowl, you can use my recommendations as a guide to ideas of what might work for those species. Frankly, their needs are different, but they are generally easier to care for as they are more developed when they hatch.

I should also like to mention that this text is for the benefit of people that are capable of following instructions, and have at least a general sense of a wild animals needs. In writing and offering this, I have unfortunately dealt with some people that thought that "their way" was better, though the unfortunate bird died in the end. If you are confident that you can do this, and have patience and a willingness to learn, then by all means use the document as necessary. Feel free to distribute it to anyone else who might have need, and who you believe is capable. If you cannot follow the directions of this text, then please admit this to yourself, and ask a friend or family member or anyone else that may be capable to care for the bird for you. Of course, in either respect, I'll expect that you looked into finding a rehabilitator around you.

All the information you need can be read completely from this page, or the following contents can be accessed individually for greater ease.

1- Does the bird have feathers(young birds who have just grown their feathers are called 'fledglings') or not? If it does have feathers, I would recommend doing nothing, although you may want to put it up on a branch if it allows you to, or shoo him under a safe nearby bush. But do not chase it if it is afraid of you. You might drive him into a more dangerous situation. Many baby birds go directly to the ground when they have fledged, and the parents continue to feed them there. Please note that the parents may not be present for some time, and this is normal. At this point, they are trying to teach their young some independance.

Fledglings (as opposed to nestlings, which are naked or covered with pin-feathers) have most of their feathers on their bodies. There may be areas of nakedness, such as under the wings, but for all intents and purposes, they now look like 'flying' birds. This does not necessarily mean that they can indeed fly. Many fledglings leave the nest before they are capable of flight, and some few species even tend to leave the nest before they are completely feathered! This is completely normal behaviour, and requires no assistance on our part.

I repeat, please leave small feathered birds alone during breeding season, unless they are in CLEAR danger. Most of the mail I am getting this year is for advice concerning fledglings. Once removed from their environment, you will not be able to return them until after the hard-pen time (see paragraph 19) since at this time they will not be able to survive without their parents, who will have given them up as lost if you keep them.

If the bird does not have feathers, or has very few, small undevelopped feathers read on.

2- Put him back in the nest. Nobody is more capable of raising the chick than its own mother. It might seem fun, but it is a lot of work, and too many things can go wrong too easily. That being said, maybe you would have done this, but it was not possible for some reason (in my case, we did not have a ladder that went up high enough to reach the nest). Read on.

3- Give him no water whatsoever! Even 1 drop may give him pneumonia, and he will definitely die if this happens. This is probably the most common killer of orphaned birds. Baby birds get enough moisture from their food to maintain their water needs.

4- Keep him warm (around 90 degrees), and no direct heat from a light bulb. If you must use a light bulb as a heat source, place a towel between the bird and the light bulb (but not directly on the bird) to avoid burns or overheating until you can call a local animal shelter or organization that is equipped to deal with these birds. Try to be quick about finding a place, if there is such a place in your community.

If you have difficulty, use this link to help you find a rehab. center in your area: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm. If you cannot find an organization immediately, or at all, read on. (And if the above link doesn't work, email me, and I'll forward a listing of rehab. centers to you)

- Find a cardboard box with dimensions of about 1' long x 1 1/2' wide x 1 1/2' high.

- Place a heating pad on the bottom of the box, turned onto its lowest setting.

- On this, place a small bowl or smaller box, that is high enough to prevent him crawling over the edge and falling onto the heating pad. The bird will overheat if this happens.

- Inside the bowl, place a folded towel, taking care to insure that the complete bottom of the bowl is covered. The bottom of the bowl, even if it is 'soft' plastic, is too hard for the little guy, as I found out when I let him sleep without a towel one night, and in the morning he was miserable and had a very sore leg, which I'm sure would have gotten worse if I did not immediately return his towel. Also, try to make it so that he cannot get under a fold in the towel as it is quite a bit warmer there.

- Put a thermometer directly on the area where he will be living, and check the temperature often. A good thick glass thermometer from the pet store will do, but not one of those thin plastic ones that can break too easily. You want to keep the temperature at about 90 degrees. This seems to be the temperature that my bird was happiest with, although it was recommended to me that 85-95 was acceptable. I tend to disagree. 95 seemed to hot for him, and 85 not warm enough. In any case if your bird is panting he is too hot. Other signs of being over-heated are if the bird constantly keeps his mouth open, or seems uncomfortable and restless, which can also be a sign of disease as well. These signs can show up alone or in combination. If he is shivering, act QUICKLY to raise the temperature!

- Keep a dark towel on top of the box, with just enough of an opening to let a little bit of air in. 1" or so should do, but this affects the temperature in the box, so check it and compensate as necessary. If the temperature goes a little too high, you can also try putting a folded towel between the bowl and the heating pad. It will take a few hours to make sure the temperature is stable, so keep checking.

A contributor suggested the following alternative setup: A closed cardboard box with about five airholes no bigger than a pen's circumference. The heating pad was kept under the box as opposed to inside it, and was set to 'medium'. If this setup successfully keeps a good temperature range, then it would be the better bet since it would protect the bird from drafts. In any case, the temperature should be verified often!

6- Now you need to feed him. Read this section completely before procedding with any feeding.

I had success using hand rearing formula for seed eaters that I got at the pet store, but I was raising a house sparrow which is an extremely hardy bird as you must know. Truth is, all North American songbirds are fed a diet of insects (flies) during their nesting period. But even if you can obtain these (fresh or from a pet store), it's still a good idea to follow the recipe given below. Different songbirds still have different nutrional needs despite the seeming similarity of their nestling diet. The recipe below is the latest best option, and was developped by an avian researcher who wanted to formulate the best possible general diet for young songbirds.

1/2 cup Purina ProPlan Kitten (with just enough water to soften)
2 Hard Boiled Egg Whites
3 Tablespoons Science Diet Feline Growth canned
2 Tablespoons Freeze Dried Insects (some flies a must)
1/2 Tablespoon Knox Blox
800 mg Calcium (4 low sodium regular Tums work well)
100 mg Vitamin C

The Knox Blox is made with Knox gelatin. Put 1/2 teaspoon in small baby food jar, add cold water to dissolve, then add boiling water until jar is 2/3 full. Use 1/2 tablespoon for your first batch, then refrigerate the rest.

This recipe must be made fresh and not placed in the freezer. It will keep two days in refrigerator.

Feed with a Bic pen cap (use that part that is supposed to go in your shirt pocket) or buy a syringe at the pharmacy. Using a syringe is really the best way to go. When you have filled it, let it sit 15 minutes on the heating pad to keep it warm and for it to absorb any excess water in the mix (see below #22)

If it is too late to go to the store, use dry cat/dog food (dog food is better) that has been soaked completely, but squeeze out the excess moisture with your fingers as much as you can. Cooked egg yolk mixed with a little water to form a paste is also good. These last 2 options are not nutritious enough for constant use, but will hold him through the night.

* Any food you offer him should be warm (not hot!). Do not feed him food that is too cold either, as this will render the young bird ill, and most likely kill him. Touch his beak a couple of times, which should make him open his mouth. If he does not open his mouth, he may be sick or injured, or simply unused to you. Go to next paragraph. Get the food well into his mouth, but be gentle. If he is healthy, he will do most of the work himself.

Feed every 15 minutes, from 6:00 in the morning until about 9:00 or 10:00 at night. The portions of food should be easy to swallow for him. If you look on the right side of his neck, you will eventually see a bulge that will travel from his head to his body. This is the food being swallowed. (Neat, eh?)

With any bird, as they grow, slowly increase the amount you feed them while decreasing the frequency. I would say to make these changes on a weekly basis, as above. Any changes to the frequency and amount of feeding should be done gradually, over the course of a few days if it is a drastic change.

I have acquired a little booklet with quite detailed instructions on feeding many species of birds. It gives the specific nutritional information, and I would be happy to relay any necessary information on the species you might be keeping, if you would like it.

- If using fresh caught insects to feed a young bird, avoid the following; houseflies, cockroaches, spiders, ants, caterpillars, worms. These particular insects either produce toxic substances that would harm your bird, or are carriers of bacteria or other parasites that can also endanger the chick.

- Mealworms are acceptable and can be bought at the pet store, although they have to be chopped into bite size morsels. Do not give the bird too many though, since the chitin (hard parts) can be hard to digest if given too frequently. Use mealworms as a supplement.

- If you know what species of bird you have, it may be that you have found out that some other food is also given to the chicks of that species by the parents. (ex. worms for robins) Be sure to research when the parents start feeding this fare to the youngsters, as they most often do not begin until the young are one, two, or more weeks old. If you are sure that your bird is old enough to handle such food, I would still recommend these as supplements only. Use the above Passerine diet as their main source of food until they have fledged.

- Do not allow any formula you give to the chicks to be overmoist. As well as the risk of pneumonia, overmoist food can also cause diarhea, another often fatal condition for young birds.

- Do not underestimate the need for a proper diet for your young charge. The recipe above is the best option for all young songbirds. If you insist on straying from that diet to some other, you may well be putting the chick in danger. Slow death or improper development can occur. If you take the easy road and decide to use a handrearing formula obtained from a pet store, know that it contains soy protein, which is indigestible for young songbirds. Many will nonetheless seem to grow well, but may suffer problems once fledged, as they will be weak from the diet.

- Due to the unavailability of some of these ingredients in certain regions, I have compiled a list of other recipes that may be used, which contain ingredients which are easier to obtain. These recipes are species specific. I will only offer them on request. Please email me for more details.

7- Is your bird injured or sick? If he is sick, there is probably not much you can do. Call a vet, rehabilitator, or wait it out otherwise. He may get over it, but most likely not. If he is injured, is it internal (are there any unusual black, blue, or unusually red marks, keeping in mind that these colors might be normal sometimes) or a limb? If there are internal injuries, do not feed the bird. Try to wait until there are signs that the injury is subsiding. Again, he will most likely die if this is the case.

If the injury is to a leg or wing, he may survive, but will most likely be lame. He may never be able to return outdoors. Will you keep the bird as a pet in this case, and is it legal where you live? You should find out. If it is not legal, you could probably do a little more research for a shelter or organization that can keep the bird. A sick/injured bird can use a little more heat than normal, maybe up to 95 degrees or a little more. Check for overheating (panting, open mouth, restlessness).

8- Growth should be noted every day. The best thing to do is to weigh the bird each day to insure that he is gaining weight. I had no device for this myself, so I cannot be more detailed than that. But you should notice things like bigger feet, eye development, color changes, feather growth, etc. Sometimes you will only notice one thing, such as when I noticed my bird all of a sudden had these huge feet! He looked otherwise the same to me as the day before. This is apparently normal. As long as something is growing, the bird is doing alright.

9- The bird should also have a good energy level, and should want to eat when you offer him food. If you notice a drop in these, start paying close attention to him. He may have simply had a bad night, but more likely he may be getting sick. If this behavior lasts more than 2 hours, raise the temperature to 95 degrees, and call a vet, rehabilitator, or wait until the situation passes, one way or the other. Try to observe his surrounding conditions for anything noteworthy, like drafts, noise, fumes, etc.

10- Let the bird get 8 hours uninterrupted sleep. Remember, he is a baby after all. Stay out of his room, and keep all the lights off. However, on the first couple of nights, don't let this stop you from checking the temperature of his box. Simply bring a flashlight with you, and avoid shinning it directly in the box. Take the thermometer out, and read it there, then put it back.

11- Keep his area clean. I removed my bird's droppings whenever I noticed them, and I changed his bedding every 2 days, since we got a lot of food all over his little towel.

12- Do not let any other animals near the chick. Even if the animal is friendly, you do not want your bird getting used to that animal since when you release him, you will decrease his chances of survival. Just imagine that your bird has been playing with a friendly cat, and then when you release him he goes to the first cat he sees thinking it is a friend. There goes all your work! I would even go so far as to say that you should not let the bird see you with your animals.

13- No smoking, or spraying of air fresheners, pesticides, cleansers etc., in the bird's room. Keep all chemicals and toxins well away from the bird. It does not take much to make the bird ill(or dead) with these substances.

14- Growth rates can vary from species to species, but usually it takes somewhere between 2 to 4 weeks until a chick fledges. By the second week, my sparrow only had pin feathers coming out of his wings and tail, and they were not very long at all, maybe 1/4", if that. By the third week, he had almost all his feathers, except at the area on his body below the wings, a small patch on his belly, and his leg feathers were only just coming in. On top of that, most of his pin feathers came off so that his feathers are completely open and useable. When feathers are growing, you must be very careful not to break them, since the birds can bleed to death. At this stage, the bird may seem quite uncomfortable with the feathers coming out, which I suppose is to be expected. If your bird is tame enough to handle, you might want to pet him in the direction of the growing feathers. This may help relieve him somewhat.

15- You will notice that as the bird continues to grow, he will start becoming more curious about his surroundings. They will also start to walk, talk, and flex their muscles. They are usually pretty clumsy at first, but in a few days they will learn the ropes. Take care that they cannot become injured with their little explorations, or fall out onto the heating pad.

16 Within a month (much earlier for some species), the bird will have fledged, which means not only does it have almost all its feathers, but it will actually fly, or try to. They usually fly pretty weakly at first, but within a week, they should have basically mastered it. I often held my sparrow on my finger and let my hand down repeatedly to get him to exercise his wings.

17- Once a bird has fledged, stop using a heating pad and immediately set up a cage for him. By this time, the feathers will protect him from heat loss. I still left a towel over 1/2 the cage to make it a little less drafty.

18- Also at this time, you might also want to start putting a bin of seeds in his cage, or other food that your bird requires. My bird started taking seeds a few days after he fledged, although only when I was not looking. He still preferred the formula and the attention he got with it. Do not give up the formula entirely. Again, simply extend the time in between the feedings. Some birds still want their parents to feed them weeks after they have fledged and learned about seeds, so depriving them totally is a little heartless. Nonetheless, be assured that after a week, if you cannot be there to feed your bird, he will manage for a day.

At this time, also add a water bin. Use the type you can hook onto the inside of the cage. Do not use a bowl or dish that the bird can step into. If the bird is constantly walking in the water, it will be unsanitary to drink, and he could become ill either from drinking the water, or even just by stepping in it. I have never noticed my bird ever actually drinking from his water bin, but it should be available just in case.

19- Now onto the great outdoors. This is the most painful process, but it must be done. Be aware that the following birds are not protected by the Wildlife Protection Act (in both Canada and the U.S.), and may be kept as pets if desired: European House Sparrow, Starling, Pigeons(Rock Doves), European Tree Sparrows, Cattle Egret, any Parrots or Parakeets, European Goldfinch. In other words, any introduced or non-native bird is not covered by the Protection Act. Nonetheless, I recommend that you call your local authority and have this confirmed, as laws can differ from state to state or province to province. To be blunt about it, even raising the wild chick you found is not legal without a permit anywhere in North America. If you do intend to keep the bird, do your research on its requirements, diet, habits, etc.

What many people do not realize is that fledglings should never be released immediately. There is a period which in the rehab profession is called the 'hard pen' time. Young birds are often still cared for by their parents after they have learned to fly. As well, they need to exercise their wings for a good while before they will be able to fly strongly and quickly enough to avoid many dangers. The hard pen time varies greatly from species to species, averaging somewhere around a month, but for some can last for 3 months! Contact me for specific details on the species you are keeping to know the amount of time you will still have to keep this bird.

When your bird has fledged, bring him outside in his cage every day to the same location so that he becomes adjusted to the new environment. Remain with him at first to increase his confidence. Most likely you will be using a cage that is far too small for your bird to exercise in properly, so a few hours a day of indoor flight are recommended.

When the end of the hard pen period has arrived, proceed slowly. Make sure ther are no obvious dangers in the area (cats, busy street, etc). Then open the cage and let him explore. If at all possible, do this when other members of this species are present in the neighborhood (close enough that you can hear them), but be careful, as some species of birds are territorial and will harass, perhaps even kill the new intruder! Do your research there, or contact me for advice.

Some species (ie. finches) will take wing immediately. Observe them if you can, and call out to them to give them more reassurance. Watch that nothing obvious is around that could harm the bird. Also look to see if they really want to go or if they would like to come back but are afraid to. Help them if you can. Leave their cage in its usual location for a few days in case they decide to return.

My sparrow on the other hand took about a week of exploring outdoors before he got the urge to fly far away. The first few days he simply hopped on the driveway behind my apartment, and pecked at the ground alot. By the end of the week, he flew strait onto the third balcony of the neighboring building. There was nothing that I could do but watch. I noticed that the other sparrows were coming to him, and that he was responding to their presence, although he never followed them. Luckily (for me), he flew to the top of my building after a couple of hours, so I went up, called him over, and he came to me. I have been told by a rehabilitator that the first 2 weeks of freedom are the hardest as the birds have to learn the ropes, but after that they will live as any other bird would.

20- If you are wondering how much is instinctive, I have noticed the following behaviors that were not taught by me; flying, exploring, pecking at the ground, dusting the feathers, eating small rocks(grit), hunting flies. Seems to me that young birds already have alot of skill for survival once they have fledged.

21- When I first received the bird, I had been told to give the bird moist catfood. This was a mistake since there is far too much water in it, which causes diarrhea. By the second day, the bird stopped eating. I figured he was dying because I always heard that it was so hard to raise these chicks. I has stopped feeding him, and after about 5 hours, he was again ravenous for food. By then I found out about egg yolk and moistened dry cat/dog food, and that is what I fed him until I went to the pet store and bought formula. If you have made this mistake, raise the temperature a little bit, and wait until the bird feels better. Don't pester him all the time to see if he is hungry. This is just further stress. Maybe every 2 hours you should gently touch his beak to see if he will feed again. As always, any sickness, even belly-ache, is serious.

22- About a week after that,an even more serious thing occurred. My bird got chilled. He did not eat in the morning and started shivering, and he got worse in the following couple of hours. I gave up hope. You see, the night before, I was feeding him when the unthinkable happened; a drop of water got in his mouth. I had just started a new batch of formula, and fed him once already with it, so I could not believe that there was a drop of unmixed water in the syringe! So the next morning, when I saw him getting steadily worse, I figured that was it. He's got pneumonia! Emotionally I gave up. Lucky for my bird, my boyfriend did not. At 11:00 I told him what had happened, and he spent the rest of the day until 6:00 p.m. nursing the bird for me. To be honest, the bird was already getting better 1/2 hour after my boyfriend started with him. What really had happened was that, although the thermometer said 92 degrees, the warm air from the box was coming out and being replaced by cooler air from the room. We did not have much of an opening over the box at the time (only an inch along the narrow side of the box), but it was enough. And the room was being heated to 20 degrees (Celsius), which apparently was not sufficient. My boyfriend raised the room temperature to 25 degrees C ( this was in June mind you!), and also raised the temperature directly around the bird to 100 degrees F by covering the bird with a small hand towel. The bird was drained by the experience, but made a good comeback afterwards. By nightfall we allowed the temperature in the box to remain at about 93 degrees F. Moral of the story, keep the room warm too, or do whatever you have to to avoid drafts!

23- Be better than me, and don't give up hope too easily! If not for my boyfriend this last experience would have taken the bird away. If you have a problem that you can't find a proper solution for, use your instincts. Patience, observation, and research are your tools, so use them as best you can.

24- Here's a small piece of first aid that is valuable to know. If a bird breaks a nail or a pin feather to the point of bleeding, you must act fast. The loss of a couple of drops of blood is sometimes all that is needed to kill the bird. Keep a styptic pencil handy(those sticks you get at the pharmacy that stops bleeding from minor cuts on contact), and use it on the nail or pin feather as you would use it on yourself. You will have to hold the bird gently but firmly while doing this, as it may be painful or unpleasant for him. This can save the bird's life. As usual, after such an event, he may be weak, so give extra care as needed. I am unsure to the appropriateness of using this method for any body cut. There the chemicals from the pencil may be more easily transferred into the body, which may harm him.

25- I thought it might be a good idea to list some of the other things that can go wrong that I have heard from other NG members. This may help you to prevent them from happening to you.

1-Cupping a bird with the hands may provide an immediate source of warmth and shelter for a young bird, but as quickly as possible you should find an appropriate box or other shelter for the bird. They can become over-stressed, over-warmed, or injured by this method. I had one report of a young chick dying from this method.

2- I received one report from a member of ants having found their way into a box containing a young chick. It was bitten to death.

3- Small cuts on a bird should always be treated as serious, even if there is little loss of blood. Infection can settle in quickly, and sometimes becomes systemic, which often goes unnoticed.

4- Parasites are a serious health problem. If any are spotted, call a vet or pet store dealing in birds, to find out the appropriate measures to take. Please remember that this is a small, wild bird, so any treatment should be undergone with the utmost of care. Start with reduced dosages if possible.

5- If a nest with babies should fall, obviously it should be returned to its' original location, and should be securely fastened. If this is not possible, it can often be placed in an area more accessible to you, which is still close to the original location (ie. if the original position was too high in a tree for you to reach, place it securely on the highest branch of that tree that you can reach.) Check from a good distance that the parents return.

If in the end, you sre still forced to care for a whole nest of young birds, throw away the nest. I have had one report of young nestlings being infested with parasites. This person had kept the nestlings in their orignal nest at first, but then noticed the nest itself, as well as the nestlings, were full of these parasites. The problem was greatly reduced when the nest was gone. This is not a complete cure for parasites though, and the advice from the previous paragraph should be taken.

5-Diseases and parasites can be transmitted to you and other pets (especially birds) by a wild bird, and also to the wild bird by you! Wash hands thoroughly before and after dealing with the bird, or wear gloves. I myself got a 3 day long stomach upset due to taking care of my bird, even though I followed my own advice above. Please be careful in this respect.

I would like to thank the other members of the rec.birds NG that have offered me their experiences. I always invite comments, questions, suggestions and experiences. Please feel free to email me at drosera@sympatico.ca

I wanted to add some things based on my experience, which is only with young fledged birds, not naked nestlings (though I have learned a lot about all ages from raising doves and finches). One might think that an older, less helpless baby bird would be easier to care for than a nestling. In some ways, it is, since they don't need the constant care and temperature is less of a problem. But in another sense, fledglings are more of a problem because the older they are, the more of a stress captivity is on them. And stress all by itself can kill them.

That is why I mentioned the sedating effect of darkness, which is probably less important for nestlings (though nestlings are used to darkness in their nests). With a fledgling, reducing stress and, also, reading the signs the bird gives about whether it is more or less stressed are critical to the bird's survival.

Here are ways to reduce the stress on a fledgling or injured adult bird. The most important thing of all is to pay attention to the signals the bird is giving you.

1) To birds, light is a stimulant and darkness is a sedative. If it is struggling or acting stressed out, darkness can sedate it immediately. Even when you just pick up a bird, covering its head to shut out light will calm it down immediately. A bird that is acting stressed or upset should be kept in a dark environment. When you are keeping the bird, watch the bird for its responses. That will guide you as to how much light its environment can have.

On the other hand, a sick or torpid bird may need the stimulant of light -- especially sunlight -- and as a bird becomes used to its environment, sunlight can help to cheer it up and make it a happy bird. Precocial birds (birds that start running around and eating as soon as they are hatched, such as quail, pheasants, killdeer, sandpipers, etc.) need bright full-spectrum light to stimulate them to eat.

2) Too much movement around it can also cause a bird stress. If it is in a cage, and acting stressed, cover part of the cage, especially if there is movement around in those directions. The bird will generally be less stressed if all the movement it sees comes from only one direction (which is the situation it usually had in its nest).

3) Sound is a key to relaxing a bird. I have had great results with CDs of bird song. Birds sing only when they feel safe. They go silent when there is danger. (Ever pass a bush full of cheeping sparrows? Ever notice how that bush will go silent if the sparrows become aware of your proximity?) Birds take their cue about whether an environment is safe or not from other birds -- regardless of species. This is the reason why they flock -- the sense of safety in numbers and the sense that if other birds feel a place is safe, it must be. It doesn't matter if the other birds belong to a different species, since they are all watching out for more or less the same dangers. That is why CDs of cheerfully singing birds is a reassurance to an anxious captive bird that the environment is basically safe.

If you have tame pet birds, their "endorsement" is also a reassurance to the anxious wild bird (though you should not allow them direct contact because wild birds almost always carry parasites, and occasionally carry diseases).

4) Related to that, if you TALK to the bird as you feed it, especially in a high voice, that will reassure the bird that you are not a predator. Predators do not talk to birds. Predators are quiet and sneaky. -- Talking (in a high voice) or whistling to wild birds will also help them to feel at ease around you. It reassures them that you are not a predator, and they will often respond by trying to communicate with you. Birds do communicate across species and, as different as we look from them, they can learn to recognize humans as fellow beings who can be communicated with.

5) Learn to recognize the feedback the bird is giving you. Here are good signs:

a) Closing its eyes, especially the inner eyelid or closing from the lower lid upward, is a sign the bird relaxed and happy. However, they also do it when they are sick (perhaps because of endorphins) so if they keep their eyes mostly closed all the time, even when things happen that should snap them out of their relaxed state, or if they do not seem alert generally speaking, they might be sick.

b) Preening is a sign that the bird is happy and doing well. Birds do not preen unless they feel at ease and unless they are healthy. The same is true of taking a bath. Basically, a bird that concerns itself with grooming is a happy healthy bird.

c) Calmly cocking its head and studying you or other things in its environment is a generally good sign.

Signs of stress can be obvious. If the bird is thrashing around and desperately trying to get out, it is not a happy bird. If it sits passively, it may have given up and be preparing to die. If it sits puffed up, it is cold and may be sick.

If the bird vocalizes, it could mean many different things. It is not always easy to understand all of the nuances of bird vocalization, but, as a general rule, one could say that it means what it sounds like -- if the bird =sounds= relaxed or happy, it probably is; if it =sounds= upset or distressed, it probably is; if it =sounds= as though it is asking for something, it probably is.

Use the same natural instinct that you have for interpreting the sounds made by a human baby. Birds use sound for bonding. Calling back and forth is a bonding activity (this also helps create friendships and bonds with wild birds). If the bird makes a noise and you have the impulse to imitate the noise back to the bird, follow that impulse! A call that makes you feel like calling back is =intended= that way by the bird. Calling back and forth is a way of bonding among birds -- the same way that echoing baby talk to a baby is a way of bonding.

As you work with the bird, be alert to its cues, the feedback that it gives you. Sheer stress can kill a bird, and, on the other hand, a happy bird is a healthy bird.

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The preceding Bird Light document was generously donated by a fellow caretaker who was raising a sandpiper at the time. I would like to add to this that for young song birds (with few or no feathers), generally speaking you should keep their area dim. Bright light seems to be very bothersome to them, so much so that they will constantly roam to get away from it. As stated though, take your cues from the bird, and see what makes it happiest. In case you have trouble knowing what happy is for a young song bird, they often just lie there resting, without panting or shivering, with good regular breaths, and they respond immediately once they realize you are there to feed them. Any change in the above behaviors should be viewed with suspicion.

Here are 2 really BAD pictures of Stevie, the little sparrow I raised. He was very fond of his outdoor explorations, but would usually return when I presented the syringe which I used to feed him.

This is "Mama" the blue jay. We have known each other for almost 9 years now. She's always been a wild bird, but due to an accident early on when we were getting to know each other (I let her rest on my feeder which was right outside my window, and fed her almost directly while she healed), she has become quite trusting. She is almost hand-trained (but not quite) and will bring and leave her young to me every year.

This is a grackle. I don't know him, but then he never seemed to wish to become acquainted!

These two photos are of Cassin's finches, which were raised by Kathy Myers and her husband in 1999. The finches have been affectionately called the "Three Little Peeps." Kathy and I met through the rec.birds newsgroup when we were both looking for information on raising young chicks. I owe her, and all the other folks who helped me, a very big thank you!

For the birds - Run by Joan and Neil, two licenced rehabilitators. As well as having information to help you deal with an orphaned bird, they also mention their own rehab. experiences, statistics on their success, and dispell a few myths about bird behaviour.

Birdwatching Dot Com - Well, it's all about bird watching! Stories, FAQs, tips, and products for the birdwatcher. Not much advice concerning chicks, but there's lots of other interesting stuff.

Charlie's Bird House - Tips on caring for an orphaned bird. Run by a "Bird Lady" named Helen.

Raising Teeny - The story of one woman's efforts to raise an African laughing dove. Very useful for those who are raising doves and pigeons.

Help! I've found an orphan crow, and I don't know what to do! - An FAQ offering guidance to those who are trying to raise crows and ravens. The information is practical for any member of the blackbird family, including jays, red-wing blackbirds, grackles, etc.

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