We try to provide everything birds need to raise their young including:
Where to raise them
How to feed them
- food for their young
- pictures of birds feeding insects to their babies:
Leaving the nest
NOTE: Have you found a baby bird out of the nest? See the section at the end of this webpage.
At some point, nestlings need to leave the comfort and safety of the nest for the world beyond. It may not be easy to convince them to leave.
We watched this chickadee change its feeding behavior from taking food into the nest and leaving “empty-beaked” to taking food into the nest and leaving with it.
I guess it’s their version of tough love: “If you want this delicious insect, you’ll have to come out of the nest.”
And the final results: baby birds!
First flight
It’s hard to be there with a camera when a baby decides it’s time to leave the nest, but it’s always exciting to watch. Their first flight is a bit clumsy.
It must be a little scary to leave the protected space of the only home you’ve known to venture out into the world, especially when you’ve never flown before!
Baby bird rescue
What to do when a seemingly helpless baby bird is found?
I had this dilemma when a neighbor brought me this baby bird she found sitting on the sidewalk all by itself. It certainly wasn’t at a stage when it could take care of itself, but could we do any better?
We quickly did some research and it was as I expected: It’s best to put the baby back where it was and hope that the parents will find it and take care of it (before a cat does).
One of reasons for doing so was especially interesting: Even if we were able to raise it successfully to adulthood, we wouldn’t be able to teach it the skills it needs to survive as a bird. We underestimate the importance of bird parenting!
We took this baby back up the street where it had been found and put it in a nearby evergreen tree — complete with an adult cedar waxwing at the top! It appeared that the nest was right up there at the top, too.
I hope they were reunited and all turned out well, but I’m confident that putting it back on the tree was indeed the wisest choice. (But I fervently wish people would keep their cats inside!)
Resources
- Audubon:
- National Audubon: When you should and should not rescue baby birds
- Portland Audubon: What to do if you find a baby bird
- Massachusetts Audubon: Found a baby bird chart
- Massachusetts Audubon: Baby birds out of the nest
- NY Audubon: What to do with an injured or orphaned bird
- NY Times:
- Choose Natives:
- American Bird Conservancy:
- Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife:
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
- “Orphaned” baby birds
- What should I do if I see a baby bird out of the nest
- Baby Birds: FAQs and common problems
- VIDEO: Into the Nest: Intimate views of the courting, parenting, and family lives of familiar birds – part of the Lab’s Seminar Series (2015) – 1 hr 12 min
- PBS: (If you’re not a PBS Passport member, you may have to get this at your library)
- Nature Conservancy’s Cool Green Science:
- Lesley the Bird Nerd:
- VIDEO: Black-capped Chickadee Nest box – 54 Days in 20 mins – Building to Fledging – fascinating look at what is happening inside the box
- Bird Watcher’s General Store:
- Woods and Wildlife (NY and VT):
- Nesting birds and forest structure – an introduction to the complex interaction between birds and forests