Wild birds that you find

[Beaks]

A wild bird should not be touched if it is close to fledging because the mom and pop will push them out of the nest to make them fly then take care of them on the ground.

Younger birds will die unless you hand raise them and even if you can't release them afterwords they make good pets and are in most cases just as smart as a parrot or other bird.

Dogfood soaked and soft is the very best thing you can give a wild bird along with meal worms.(smashed or whole depending on the age for softbills and real young raptors)

With raptors it's another story they need meat warm not hot, crickets,grasshoppers, mealworms, and mice (baby) ground meat, crickets and dogfood for babies and plenty of it. BUT
The best thing to do is take them to a rehabber like wildcare or me LOL
so they can be rehabbed and set free if possible.

I get in between 20 and 150 wild birds a year here and it works out great but now i have wild flocks that live in my trees that think i am daddy.

I even get in some bats (now thats a cool animal and can be very loving and sweet)

Its all good

John

[smallonion]

Oh my god, Ollie is adorable!

[The Outlaw]

I just gotta agree! Darling little thing. When I was a very small child, we had a baby pet crow that was rescued from a downed tree, too. Its two siblings had perished. We fed him watered down canned dog food back then, but he did just fine. He hung around for almost a year until he "fell in love" and went off to meet his destiny. That was my only bird experience until I reached the age of 50. Now I have 10 parrots (LOL).

THE OUTLAW

[smallonion]

Oh Nancy I love crows. There are loads of huge black ones here in London. There's this one park I love to drive by because there are always about 20 crows hanging around. I think they're gorgeous. What a lovely story about you raising your crow and him growing up and finding a partner. I have tears in my eyes!

Michele and Humphrey

[Crebain]

That owl is SO cool. What kind?

[smallonion]

John, I just noticed that in your post you mention bats! Besides birds, bats are my favorite animal. I even used to do volunteer work for the Bat Conservation Trust in London. It didn't involve any bats, unfortunately, I did office work for them. Do you have any pics of bats that you've met?

Michele and Humph

[LMPego]

I don't know about other places, but in Illinois it's illegal to touch a raptor at all, it's even illegal to pick up raptor feathers that you might find on the ground. If you find a raptor that needs help, you need to call a raptor center to come get it.

[jessicaboyer89]

cool post! thanks for the information! i just love ollie. he is darling. :D

[Iamfeathers]

Hi ya'll, I'm new to this board but not new to birds and animal care, both wild and exotic. I'm gonna put my two cents in as far as wild bird care. This is just from my experience and knowledge base. Others find things different and it's true..different birds will respond differently according to their predisposition, background and too many other variables to mention here. First.....I hope I do not offend anyone else and by no means am saying they are wrong. However, in my 25 years of actively rehabbing wild birds, I've never had an occasion for parents to reject an offspring returned to the nest or put in a "homemade" nest to replace a "birdmade" one that had been destroyed. It's been a highly toted myth that was really perpetrated to keep people from picking up fledglings and wildlings that really didn't need human intervention. Most fledglings leave the nest while still incapable of full flight and at this time are most vulnerable. Those are the birds I usually see brought in to a vet or rehabber. Most people do not know that most birds leave the nest before full flight status. They hang in bushes and low trees practicing their leaps and flaps until they strengthen the muscles needed for flight. One parent or both...depending on species....will be somewhere near to provide food and protection if needed. In the spring take some time while you're outside and listen to the contact calls. Soon you'll be able to distinguish a baby birds call from that of the adult. However, if a bird has a genetic defect or is deficient in anyway, most parents will not accept the bird, no matter what. Some of these birds are capapble of being rehabbed and released succussfully. I've even had wild parents continue to feed their offspring while I'm holding the baby. I've done this for nestlings who's nest has been destroyed and I've not got a way to build a new one quickly enough. The parent birds were not intimidated in the least by me and would quickly land on me then feed their baby and leave to catch more food.
If you really want to know the details, laws and requirements for rehabbing, you can either contact a rehabber listed on the internet or call your state wildlife agency, Dept. Of Natural Resources. Most states have a non-game section who will gladly answer questions and aid you to get your permits. Some states require purchasing certain books to aid a person, a list of vet's who have agreed to aid the person and tests are giving to ensure the person has an acceptable degree of knowledge to give aid without harming the animal. For me, it's a passion. Others it's a hobby. Nothing is more rewarding than to see a wildling return to your home area the year after it's release and to see that it's thriving along with others.

[Iamfeathers]

THERE you are! We were just talking about you yesterday....were yer ears burning? So glad to see you again and TALK! Give that big ole green baby boy a big kiss from me! Oh.....and finger some of those pin feathers for me, will ya? I miss that soooooo much! Did ya hear the news that I'm back into the bird rescue/rehab and rehome business? Nope....don't have any coming in or going out or even staying...other than my Tickles. But....after going through some major health issues and learning how to deal with it's short comings...we figured it's about time to go back to helping these magnificant friends. Ow.....didja hear how I was greeted by Sammiecakes? Actually "broke" me in so to speak. Well.....she's in a super home with a super Mamma and that's all that counts. :D When I saw the new blue and gold fella at the shop..first thing I told Shari was....I want to adopt him.....and then she told me who got to him first....lol So....I just let Goo crawl over me and almost destroy my purse strap..silly guy.