May 23 2008
Robin Rescue
Wednesday morning at work Joan Guerin called to say a baby robin was hunched in the parking lot in front of a parked car.
I had wondered if something was going on. Outside my window, two adult robins with worms in their mouths kept perching at various lookout spots and making a racket. I could tell their offspring were threatened but I couldn’t figure out where and why.
I gathered up a towel and followed Joan to the baby bird, pictured above. It had feathers but they had not grown in enough for him to fly. When I picked him up with the towel, he opened his beak but made no noise. He had been out in the cold for a while and was hungry and weak.
The best thing to do for a baby robin is to give him back to his parents. His parents have the know-how and time to feed him the right food every 10-20 minutes from dawn to dusk. (Yes, that’s how often they have to be fed!) His parents teach him how to be a robin, forage for worms and watch for danger. His parents will not reject him if a person touches him.
Joan and I watched the adult robins to figure out where the nest was. Soon we saw them carry food to a flimsy nest on top of a lamp. Below it a featherless nestling had fallen out days ago and was dead on the ground.
We borrowed a ladder and I put the bird back in the nest with his two siblings. We stepped away and his parents immediately brought food. When I checked later in the day, all three chicks were sitting in a row with their heads peeping over the nest rim. Happy family.
What should you do if you find a baby robin? Do NOT take it home. Not only are you a poor substitute for the birds parents but federal law prohibits you from keeping a wild bird.
If the bird is too young to fly, it is not far from the nest and its parents know where it is. In fact, its parents are watching you. Put the bird back in the nest or, if the nest is unreachable, put him in a thick bush above ground (out of reach of cats) or up in a tree.
The robin’s parents are watching. When the the coast is clear they will bring food. If the baby bird starts shouting, this is a good thing. Robins recognize their young by sight and sound – not smell. The baby is saying “Hey, I’m over here. Feed me!”
And above all, don’t worry too much. You can’t save every robin. It is statisically impossible. Robins are incredibly prolific (4 eggs per brood, 3 broods per year). Their population is kept in balance by high mortality in their first year. 60% of them don’t make it to the flying stage and of those who learn to fly 75% don’t live more than 6 months. This doesn’t hurt their numbers. Robin populations are stable or growing throughout their range.
When in doubt: Call the Animal Rescue League Wildlife Center in Verona, 412-793-6900 or look at the National Aviary’s website for additional phone numbers. (Thank you to Jamie Sehrer who added this helpful information in the comments below.)
Wow, I had no idea baby robins had to be fed that often! Glad the little one stayed safe in the nest after you put him back.
I was so glad to see the info on robins. I have been watching a nest outside my office door for several weeks. This week the mother has not been at the nest and now I think something has happened to her.
She was nesting in an existing nest from previous years. Is this common?
My foster daughter raised and released a cardinal many years ago but it had been hurt and had all the feathers.
I enjoy your blog. Thanks so much.
The mother robin is not at the nest? You bet! The parent robins are out frantically gathering food. They have 10 minutes between feedings so they’re away more than they’re present.
The older the chicks get, the more the parents are away. When the chicks leave the nest, the parents take food to the chicks wherever they are. A parent robin with 4 babies is very busy indeed, delivering food to 4 locations that change all the time. It’s a whirlwind.
Something might have happened to the parents but be very cautious about making that assumption. Birds are secretive when they come and go to their nests because they don’t want their nests and chicks to be discovered.
Also if you find a baby bird and you are completely clueless and need some advice you can call the Animal Rescue League Wildlife Center. This is what I’ve done in the past and they are very helpful. The Wildlife Center is my local wildlife rehabilitator.
http://www.animalrescue.org/cms/name/Wildlife+Center
They take in many many baby birds a year. I believe their phone number is 412-793-6900. Their website has information on what you can do if you find any wild animal in need of help.
Hi- I need some bird advice!
You seem like quite the expert on birds. Recently I was told that birds have made a little nest within the confines of my garden- in one of the trees. These trees are about 5 metres high I’d say (though I’m pretty terrible at measuring) and the nest is in the middle section. I was told about this nest a few weeks ago- and looked at it outside our window just today. Previously (around 4 or 5 weeks ago) it seemed unoccupied. It’s not a particularly neat construction but definitely a nest shape- very cute really.
I went outside about 5 minutes ago, having remembered its presence in our garden- and there are two sweet little grey birds (unrecognisable variety but definitely grey in colour) of a size smaller than pigeons but similar colour with smoother feathers. As you can imagine this is so exciting. They are nesting there, protecting their eggs- and are obviously the parents- and they look very conscientious!
One problem- the nest is quite dilapidated due to recent bad weather I’m guessing. It’s pretty sunny lately however we occasionally have wind/rain and I’m concerned that the nest might break with the swaying branches and fall off before the eggs have hatched. I can’t really do anything about it- i can’t move it or reassemble it- it’s their home! but i’m just worried because it sort of looks like it’s leaning and may fall with the weight of the parents/with the weather conditions
Have you any suggestions being a keen bird enthusiast?
Or should I not worry and just leave them? I would never touch it because that would probably induce even more damage- but it at the moment looks unsteady/unstable which frightens me because they are so so sweet and it is such a treat that they have chosen my garden to build a family !
Sam
Since it is nearly winter here (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) and you write that you have a nest in your garden, I imagine you are writing from a place where it’s spring. Perhaps Australia?
I am unfamiliar with Australian birds so I can’t identify the bird you describe. However the condition of the nest may be a characteristic of how the bird builds its nest.
Here in the States we have a bird called a Mourning Dove who is grey-beige and resembles a pigeon. (See http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Mourning_Dove.html) Mourning Doves build nests so flimsy that you can see the eggs through the bottom. There are pictures of their nests at the link above. Maybe there is a similar bird where you live & that’s who is nesting in your garden.
Regarding the nest almost falling: As you say, the nest is so flimsy that touching it may harm it. I think there’s really not much you can do except keep an eye out if a nestling falls to the ground. If so, you can put the baby bird back up in the nest (if still there) or in the tree near where it came from to keep it safe from predators and close to its parents.
This blog entry gives some general tips on how to help baby birds (focusing on American Robins). Our local rescue league phone numbers won’t be helpful but there is probably an animal rehabilitation place near you. You may need to keep their number handy.
And a followup to the “Robin Rescue” blog (above). Some mother birds are just not meant to be parents. The robin whose baby I rescued kept picking terrible places to build her nest, the nests kept falling apart, the eggs got too cold, the babies died in attempt after attempt. I helped once – and then realized the mother bird didn’t have the skills necessary to raise a family. My help was pointless in the face of her incompetence. Alas.
Good luck to you!