First Aid For Wildlife

Birds

Birds that have hit windows: Should you find a bird that has hit a window, pick it up and put it in a box or large paper bag. Place it in a dark, quiet corner inside your house for a couple of hours. If the bird recovers, take the box or bag outside and let it go.

Young birds that have fallen from nests: Many mothers have told their children to never touch young birds because the parent bird would smell them and abandon the young bird. Not so! Despite the good intentions of protecting the bird from the inquisitive nature of children, the majority of birds have a relatively poor sense of smell. For instance, the Great Horned Owl is known for its fondness of eating skunks! Birds generally are visual and tactile animals, gaining knowledge of their surroundings through sight and touch. Consequently, if a baby bird is picked up and placed back in the nest after falling out, it will almost always be accepted by the parents. However, before placing a young bird back in a nest look to see if it has tail and wing feathers. If so, it's best to let it remain where found or move it a short distance to a safer spot as the parent birds are probably still feeding it. Often young birds will leave the nest before we think they should but this is the natural process.
Finally, do not spend too much time near a nest or young birds because although the parent birds cannot smell you, but the young birds' predators can!