I just walked outside to go to the gym and happened to notice a clump of dirt on my shiny bumper…but it turns out it is a young bird ?
I dont know how it got there but it let me get awfully close and made no noise. It is moving its head around though and appears to be unharmed.
What do I do? I dont want to touch it and freak a momma bird out? I am clueless here. It is getting dark too and I hat for something to attack it tonight.
Obviously I cannot move my car either?
Help?
Can you pick it up with two branches and move it someplace? (If rejection by the mama is what you’re concerned with.)
Well my neighbor came out and got too close to baby, and he flew over under the windowsill but now he is on the ground and I am afraid even more susceptable to stray cats tonight. The momma bird is perched on the roof and watching baby.
I am thinking of at least sitting some boxes around the baby so he will not be quite so visable to predators?
And yes, Reply…I dont want to touch it if that will be off putting to the mommy.
Okay, I just went outside and it is gone. In about 5 minutes. I dont see him anywhere. Heres hoping it somehow made it to higher ground. I know it could fly at least as high as my head on previous demonstration.
Whew. I hope it got somewhere safe.
It’s a fledgling dove and he was probably just resting there after trying out his wings. Hopefully he got to higher ground.
Have you ever seen a young hummingbird? They leave the nest when they can just barely fly. They’re like a balloon that’s lost most of it’s helium - sort of neutrally buoyant…
Yep, it’s a fledgling Mourning Dove, but , from the photo, looks pretty healthy. Fledgling birds really have a precarious period in adolescence when learning to fly and get by. You are such a sweetheart, Mint Julep, for taking time for concern.
After watching so many baby birds from hatch to adult, I am in awe of birds. A couple of weeks, from nekkid helpless hatchlings to learning to fly, with the parents working sunup to sundown feeding all that time. Amazing. Help em any way you can.
I am in agreement with all. It was a fledgling Dove and I choose to believe that the on-looking mommy Dove was watching baby on this training flight. I read alot about birds this afternoon and it does seem quite common and he/she did seem healthy and just testing it’s wings.
So thank you to all for your input, and pardon my spaz out in the initial post. Baby bird just looked so sad and lost and it broke my heart.
And elelle I agree they are so beautiful and determined…I was honored to see a glimpse into this particular bird family 
Birds rock.
When two Bluejay fledglings fell into my thick viney hedges, and realizing there were four outdoor cats living nxt to my property, AND given that the parent bluejays seem to have great difficulty getting to their babies, both me and my son tried to get the fledglings into a box and bring inside, this wasn’t easy at all! The parents would swoop down near our faces and we had to resort to swinging a bath towel over our heads to keep them from popping our eyes out… it was frightening but I knew it was nearing dusk and those cats would be prowling any sec… finally we got them into the box, one was smaller and limped, the other looked possibly a week older and clearly this must have been their 1st flight attempt… we went through the patio glass doors with the box and the parent bluejays perched onto the patio backrests calling out for their babies, it was horrible and painful! I just prayed and hoped I was doing the right thing by bringing them in… We purchased “exact” Hand feeding flormula for all baby birds and with a dropper, gave them what was recommended… a huge mistake was giving them water… I guess, because after the 2nd night, the smaller one was found laying dead… the other larger one, though, seemed stronger and was trying to fly out of the box… the parents (around the clock) who were always outside our patio door, heard the one bird crying out, so as soon as the parents flew somewhere, I got the older one out and perched him on the highest part of our wooden fence (6ft), and large tree within inches of where he was placed (100s of pine trees surround the property), and as predicted, he cried out and the parents swooped in, and it was amazing and beautiful to watch, so the parents were calling out the baby bird, while they seemed to be hopping up to higher branches, they did this over and over again and finally the baby bird flew up 2ft to the first branch, and then the parents proceeced to do their dance again, flying up and down to the next higher branch until baby bird got up to where they wanted him… they’d stay right next to him after he reached their branch for a few minutes and begin again… i went back in my house at one point, but then heard a lot of bluejay ruckus, frantic… i went outside and saw a squirrel was trying to get close to the baby bluejay and the parents were livid! then one of the bluejays seemed to have enough of that little guy and bared down on his head with a hard pounding and the squirrel went spirraling down! Whew! the baby bluejay was saved! The point of me sharing this story, is to let you k now that it’s a myth that birds will smell human smell on their babies and not have anything to do with them… perhaps some species but as the bird rehab person told me, not these birds… and to let you know that fledglings do not need to be fed water, unless their legs are broken and they cannot move to the water bowel… sometimes, as i sadly suspect, when you use a dropper and give them water as I did, the water can go down the wrong way and cause pneumonia.
The above happened two springs ago, and I’ve seen the 3 bluejays (parents and one baby bluejay) fly regularly into my property as I leave yummy birdseed along the ledge of my wooden fence in backyard… they all look very striking, even the smaller one I fostered for a few nights
I’m really glad you decided to care for the baby jays! Handfeeding is tough even with experience…there’s always a fear of crop burn or forcing down the wrong tube. To try it for the wild birds…kudos to you!
Thank you! It was an experience I’ll always treasure.
