What do do?

Huggy

Well-Known Member
Nov 11, 2018
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This little sweetheart was in the garden. He can fly a tiny bit, but what should we do? Don't think cats come into the garden, but will his mum feed him out of the nest? Didn't want to touch him in case that would put mum off. Help!Screenshot_20220604-164847_Gallery.jpg
 
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I'm sorry to say that it's best to leave him. Baby birds are terribly hard to help and as you say, if you interfere you may scare the parents away. Such a shame, what a cutie.
 
If you know where the nest is:

1. Pick him up gently with a large wash cloth or kitchen size towel.

2. Or a pair of latex gloves and put him back in his nest.

3. If that happens to be a Wren, I’ve picked several up with my bare hands and put them back, while the mom watched, then went straight to them:)

P.S. He is fair game for more than cats, I’m afraid:(
 
Rspb advise is to leave alone as parents maybe nearby and feeding it.

This was certainly the case with a magpie a few weeks ago. The parents were squarking at the cats in the garden then swooping down with food in there mouth to feed the little one that had fallen out the nest.
 
It's the magpies that worry me - they're vicious buggers, and we've a lot round this house. He can flutter a few feet, but not enough to escape anything.☹️
As already suggested by lollykay, if you know which nest he or she has fallen from, pop on some gloves and put it back. I do this all the time here, (though we've not as many this year because of our cat clan). Baby blackbirds are the worst! But I've put back swallows a fair few times as well - which can be tricky as they nest a lot higher up (they aren't daft and avoid the cats). The nests can get very full particularly the swallows and sometimes they just fall out completely by accident. Not sure what your baby is there though? Good luck.
 
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Poor wee thing, nature is so cruel. We had a nest of blackbirds fledge recently and the magpies were prowling about after them - mum and dad blackbird were making a right row all day. But a few days later a crow took one of the magpie chicks out of the nest. He took it on the field to kill/eat and both magpie parents were mock attacking him trying to get him off, but in vain. Eventually one magpie returned to the nest and the other sat on the telegraph wires watching the crow eat its baby. Heartbreaking 💔
 
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I really don't know where the nest is - it was well away from any trees, remarkable that none of us stood on him, he was so tiny. So much easier when I found an injured pigeon a couple of years ago - I put out food and water for him, (think he was just stunned) and the next day he'd gone - no feathers scattered, so I don't think anything got him. My week for finding baby animals - there was a lonely baby deer on the lane by the field - I coaxed it through the bushes toward the forest - cars use the lane as a rat run sometimes.
 
The sad thing with nature, is eat or be eaten.
I have been watching and feeding the baby Robins, keeping my eyes on tha magpies.
Then I spotted a ratty, with her four babies, she lost one to the stoat the other day.
 
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