My Mom used to breed cockatiels. We got dry powdered food from the pet store, added some water to it, then fed it to the birds through (needle-less) syringes. I’m not sure how well this mixture would work for wild birds, but it may be worth a shot. You may want to ask the wild-life center about something along these lines.
Good luck!!
Sorry, I don’t know. I’m not an expert on baby birds. About all you can do I think is just keep him warm.
It takes about 14-16 days from hatching for a House Sparrow to fledge. Assuming that he was a couple of days old when you found him you have about a week to ten days to go.
First of all, here are new photos. His feathers are coming in fast!
I’ve named him Icarus 
He seems to be doing well. He’s not doing the shivering thing anymore. The heating pad is keeping it perfectly cozy for him.
Just yesterday I was on the verge of tears over the thought of leaving him out to die… but now I have a ton of hope. I really hope he makes it. If he’s made it this far, I know he can pull through. I am totally dedicated to taking care of him - he has won my heart. I will post photos again in another day or two.
Damnit, I rarely shed a tear while reading forums, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t shed a few reading your posts. And this coming from a guy who just drove him on his new cruiser.
Anyway, I think it’s really noble and selfless of you to care for the bird. I’m cheering for the little guy too! My only other thought is to maybe call a few other organizations and see if they can take them in (though I have no idea what those might be).
Good luck!
Ooo, little Icky! Keep posting pictures–this is very interesting seeing how he develops. Wait, are we sure it’s a boy?
Little Icky’s big yellow lips make me think he may be a Starling, not a House Sparrow. If so, his nest would have been a hole in that tree or the eave of the house, not a stick nest in the branches. Do you see sparrows or starlings around the yard?
A starling requires a higher protein less carbohydrate diet than a sparrow (or a cockatiel).
My website (several clicks rule-- start at my profile) has Info/Resources for finding wildlife rehabilitators. This may help you. Good luck.
According to this site, both nestling House Sparrows and Starlings have the yellow gape flanges, but House Sparrows have the inside of the mouth pink while that of Starlings is yellow. From the photos, it looks like this one is definitely a House Sparrow. The two species nest in similar places (usually cavities or holes).
Well, first of all, judging from the picture, I can’t really tell if it actually is a robin, so you don’t know for sure. Second of all, this time of year there are a lot of robins, so even if your [ah-dorable] baby bird is a robin, that doesn’t mean that bird is the parent.
After looking through dozens of photos online and reading different sites about baby birds, I am pretty sure he is a house sparrow. And I also read the thing Colibri referenced about how baby sparrows have the big yellow flanges.
Also, I think I have finally spotted his parents and where his nest is… Right outside my house, I heard another baby bird’s squeaking and looked up and in the gutter I saw the father sparrow sitting on a nest - right above where I found Icarus on the ground. The poor guy fell two stories! If I had a tall ladder I could theoretically get him back in the nest. I also saw the mother bird hanging out in a tree right next to the nest. I am positive that these are his parents and sibling.
What I am wondering is, IF I could get a ladder and return him to the nest, would his parents accept him after being gone for some 5-6 days?
Anyway, he’s still eating like a piglet and his feathers are growing so fast, you can almost see them growing. You can see little feathery sprouts coming out of the tips of the pinfeathers on his wings. His head is getting fuzzier and he’s getting little sprouts all over his little naked body. His legs and feet are getting bigger too. He also loves to flap his wings. I will take a video tonight and post a link!
Aww thanks! I am so glad that I have you guys to share this with. Taking care of him is really fun and he has won me over.
When I spoke to the wildlife rehabilitator the other day, I kind of got the feeling that they’re probably too busy to bother rescuing a baby house sparrow… after all, house sparrows are an invasive species and are everywhere, and are considered a nuisance by some… Her advice was to just put him back outside, and she discouraged feeding him and said he probably wouldn’t make it. Well so far he seems to be thriving. YES it would have been better for him to be returned to his parents. But after two days of trying, I felt he would have died if I just left him out there, and I could not do that.
I have no idea if it is a girl or boy! I think it will probably be a while before you can tell… the males have different coloring but they probably don’t get that until they’re mature. So, in the meantime, I just get the vibe that he is a boy, and Icarus seemed a fitting name 
nyctea, you’re a good soul for taking in little Icarus. I’m like you… I don’t think I could have just allowed the poor thing to just die.
Owls saving sparrows. Only on the SDMB. :
:
Excellent comparative pictures! Thank you, Colibri.
As for the possibility of returning the baby to its parents, this would probably be successful. Parent birds routinely accept their babies back without prejudice. I don’t know specifically about house sparrows, but we have returned raptors (both Red Shouldered Hawks and Ospreys) to the nest as much as three weeks after the initial separation, when a wing fracture required medical intervention.
Returning to the nest will of course avoid the problem of young Ichy becoming imprinted onto humans instead of his own species.
Since it’s no longer a general question, really, I started a new thread about how he’s doing here: Icarus, the baby house sparrow (photos!)
See the latest photos here - can you believe how fast he’s growing?!
I don’t know if this is true for passerines as it is for birds of prey, but the rehab folks I’ve worked with were always extremely exasperated about people “rescuing” baby birds. Seems they fall out of the nest fairly often, and the parents are generally hovering very close nearby to keep the bird fed and protected. During the “brancher”* and fledgling stages people would constantly be picking up chicks and bring them in for us to raise, especially barn owl eyasses which are forever falling out of nests. 99/100 the parents are watching you steal their baby from the next tree over.
Like I said, I have zero knowledge of passerine birds, but I’d be willing to bet there’s not a lot of difference in this realm. Number one hit on a google search of “baby bird falling out of nest” is this :
That’s a pretty well-fledged chick. I know it’s tempting and it feels good to care for baby wildlife, but parents very rarely “abandon” their babies.
*Mostly feathered bird that’s hopping from branch to branch but hasn’t yet taken its first flight.
Yes I am definitely aware of all that. But this situation was a bit different because (1) it was 11:00 pm when I found him, and my neighbor’s cat was a couple feet away, stalking him. He definitely would have been cat food. (2) He was very very young, probably only 2-3 days, and was completely naked. I doubt the parents could have taken care of him successfully for 2 weeks on the ground, until he fledged. (3) I did leave him outside in a tree next to the nest for 2 says, in a makeshift nest, hoping the parents would take over. However, they didn’t, and he was on the verge of death if he didn’t get some food. I just couldn’t leave him out there to die. (Also, his real nest is in my gutter, 2 stories up, and there is no way I could have returned him to his nest because I just couldn’t reach it.)
So, yes it is always preferable to let the parents take care of it, but I am pretty certain that in this case, he would have died.
Anyway, he’s lookin’ very cute! What are you going to do when he’s flight-ready—just leave a window open and let him venture out?
(Hmm, maybe this belongs in the other Icarus-the-sparrow thread, since the GQ here is asked and answered.)