HI Moms. I didn't notice till today but we have a nest in our garage. One of the windows was out and we didn't realize it cause we don't use the garage much. Apparently a sparrow (I think) family decided they liked us and built a nest in the corner on top of a rug remnant. Took out some trash and there was a little bird skittering around - it seemed like it was trying to fly, practicing. Short stretches, etc. My 4 year old was with me so I wanted to make sure it was ok. I did catch it and get it back to the nest, it stayed there for a minute, and then took off, flew about 15 feet, and then dropped. I don't know anything about birds, so I don't know if this is normal practicing. It looked fine - wings, feet, etc.
Any ideas on what I should do, or should I just not worry about it? I don't want the poor thing to get stuck in "garage stuff" boxes, tool stuff, etc.
Thanks for your help!
I put gloves on before picking up any animal.
If it's trying to fly it's old enough to be outside where it can get lot's of practice and he doesn't need a nest anymore.
Put him in a bush outside and leave him alone.
His parents will look after him.
If there are no more young in the garage, patch up the window so they can't get back inside again.
He's probably learning to fly. The baby bird should be fine but from now on never pick up or touch a young wild animal. I was always told as a child the parents would abandon their babies if they could smell humans on them. It could be an old wives tale--to keep me from picking up baby animals. I have bird nests all around my house and one in my garage, right over my car so my car gets dropped on all the time. Ahhh well, I love the birds anyway.
It's definitely an old wives tale that "if you touch a baby animal it will be abandoned by the mother." I wonder if you have a 'bird rescue' person you could ask about the bird, JIC, if it is injured though. I'm surprised you could catch the baby bird, normally they are pretty fast. If you can catch it again without stressing it out too much, just pick it up - gently - and place it back in the nest. Reason is that it is vulnerable to predators on the ground. But if you think it is safe from cats and other predators, you could always just leave it. Make no mistake, mommy is watching her baby! (You may even see her fly down to her baby.)
Again, don't even worry about touching the bird. You can wash your hands afterwards of course. But other than that...no worries!
Sounds like normal flight practice to me. You can keep putting it in the nest if you see it on the ground just to avoid it being stepped on, and it will keep trying to fly until it succeeds.
Don't worry about the mother bird catching your scent and rejecting it - birds have almost no sense of smell.
I have birds -- touching a baby usually doesn't make the mother reject it. He's just learning to fly -- he should be able to within a day or two. You could try putting it back, or putting it outside. It might be safer if it learns how to fly in your garage, that way no predators can get it until it can fly completely.
buy a fake snake and place it near the nest.
thats how we do it in South Africa to get rid of unwanted birds and monkeys.
good luck
