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Caring for baby birds

A rescued bird needs to be kept quiet and warm. As mentioned before place your young bird in a well ventilated cardboard box with a secure lid on it. Line the box with newspaper or absorbent kitchen paper to begin with, later if the patient survives you can move it to a larger home.

Feeding the birds

Feeding orphaned and wounded birds is a messy, time-consuming but ultimately rewarding business. A lot of patience is required as small birds need to be fed, from every 15 min to every three hours which depends on the age, or so from dawn to dusk and no fewer than 4 times per day. If the bird is very young it will not be able to feed itself and you will have to play the role of parent and push the food into the open mouth. Most healthy young birds will instinctively gape at the sight of food and you will just need to push the food down the birds throat (if just dropped into the mouth the bird may have trouble swallowing). If the bird is not gaping or if you are feeding an older bird that is not taking kindly to its new foster parent then you will need to prise the beak apart gently and feed it this way, it should then begin to accept you as its new feeder. The best thing to feed a bird with is a clean pair of blunt forceps or tweezers. When the bird is full it will stop gaping. Young birds after they are fed will produce a neat faecal sac (droppings encased in a membrane). These should be removed with tweezers and discarded. Small birds can be classified into 2 basic groups - seed eaters and insect eaters. Finches, buntings and sparrows are mainly seed eaters and can be fed canary rearing food, mixed with water. Robins, dunnocks, blackbirds, thrushes and tits are mostly insect eaters and a substitute food must be found. 'Milupa' baby food available from chemists is a good alternative, live meal worms or puppy food from a pet shop can also be used. In all cases where hand feeding food should be offered moistened and NO additional water offered as it is too easy to drown the bird.

Orphaned Birds

Many birds are thought to have been orphaned when they are spotted hopping across a lawn or sitting quietly under a bush. Most of these birds are in fact quite safe and well and in the majority of cases the parents will be nearby busily searching for food or sitting in a close tree waiting for you to go away. It is common for many birds such as blackbirds, thrushes and starlings to leave the nest before they can fly. If you do spy a young bird on your lawn keep an eye on it to see if the parents are nearby, if they are leave the bird alone as it is in the most capable hands with the adult birds. Only if you feel that the bird is in real danger near to main roads or any unsafe area, situation, or genuinely has lost its parents should you attempt to pick it up.

Release

The S.W.B.R Centre's primary aim is to rehabilitate and release wild birds when they are fit and able to return to the wild. This should also be the aim of anyone caring for sick and injured birds. Ideally the individual should be returned to the spot where it was found. Take your box or cage to the release point and leave it there for an hour or so before you attempt a release. Preferably release birds into an area where you can keep a discreet eye on them to check on progress once they are released. Many smaller birds will not fly too far at first and will return to where they were set free if a regular supply of food is available for them.