Lost baby birds. What to do if you find one.
Springtime is baby birds time. So what if you see one by itself, hopping around without its mum?
As worrying as it seems, this is actually quite normal for all birds. Mum is usually not far away, and if you interfere she will probably think you are a threat. The best thing to do is to let mum and baby find each other again in their own time.
As spring passes, the babies will quickly grow full flight feathers and begin to venture away from mum by themselves. Again this is normal – and in fact necessary in order for the youngsters to become independent and self-sufficient.
If a baby bird is in immediate danger then common sense can obviously prevail. If it is on a busy road, you could take action like shooing it to safety. Or if you are a cat owner and it’s in your garden, lock your cat in temporarily or shoo other cats away if they are interested.
Picking up a bird is a last resort. Sometimes a threatened bird will go into shock and if you carefully put it somewhere safe like a covered box, there is a chance it may recover.
If you think a bird does need to be removed from the wild for its own welfare, please speak to your nearest animal rescue centre or the USPCA in Northern Ireland, SSPCA in Scotland or RSPCA in Wales and England. WWT is a conservation charity. We do not have facilities to provide a rescue centre for injured or orphaned animals
