I found a wild bird...

[genie]

hi..

onthe way home today, I was walking along lower bristol road in bath and found a small grey bird perched on the railings. The bird did not seem frightened as i approached it. I touched it and it did not react.
I decided to pick it up and take it away from the main road. I thought it would come to a nasty death sooner or later from cars, cats or people.. There were no trees about only bushes pavement and a water drain I figured mabe it came from a building somewhere. I took it to the park, checked it wings which were not broken and threw it into the air to see if it could fly. it flapped down to earth. it seems in fine condition. It wasnt in any distress and was happy sat on my hand all the way home. It could still be in shock. its too late now to call the rspca, and I have work tomorrow so I cant deal with the situation till the afternoon. I have a bird cage at home so I am going to keep it over night and see how it is tomorrow.I think its definatly a young bird that has fallen from its nest whilst learning to fly. I doesnt seem to react to any soundsI have no idea what it is, (i shall show a photo soon)its about 25cmlong, has grey feathers - looks like it has recently lost its downey feathers. the beak is about 1.5 cm long. its is a longer shape as opposed to a short stumpy shape. the eyes are black. could it be a pigeon or a dove? any ideas folks.

if the bird is unable to react to any predators then it may not be able to set to the wild. what do i do? i shall contact the rspca and see whats happening tomorrow.

I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions on this topic peoples!!

Genie

I realise some people may feel i did the wrong thing by picking it up and taking it home, and there are alot of other issues. i did what i felt was right at the time, as I saw no way this bird could survive there.

[Andy Hamilton]

If it is a young bird then the smell of human might mean that it is regected by the rest of the flock. So in one way you could be wrong, sorry mate.

Although it could be a tame bird and so have the smell already there. Either way try RSPB rather then RSPCA as they might be more help.

[the.fee.fairy]

Put it in the cage in a quiet place overnight.

That way, you can see if it survives (i know its harsh, but sometimes, shock can kill a bird up to 24 hours after whatever happened).

Put some seed and some water in the cage for it to munch on, and some bread.

If it survives, then try taking it outside again and releasing it if it seems healthy still.

I've rescued a lot of wild birds over the years, i've hand-fed sparrow babies, starling babies (which this could be) and many many budgie babies!!

To be honest, much of what people say about the smell of humans has never been a problem when i've released wild birds, even the ones i've held in my hand to feed every 2 hours! They've generally gone to join the flock and been welcomed.

If the bird seems less than healthy, but doesn't die, try putting it in a shady place with some seed and water, and put some small chicken or other kind of wire over the cage base, leaving the bird in and taking the top off (to create a shallow cage). This is one of the things i do every time i have a bird that needs to go back into the wild, the adults will come and feed it regurgitated worms and stuff, getting it used to wild food, it also means that they will give it the scent of wild birds again.

Good luck, and i hope it flies away in a couple of days!

[Andy Hamilton]

Ah so the smell of humans is not entirely true then, well that is me told keep us updated then G what has happened now??

[ina]

Two years ago I returned a young swallow to it's nest, and the parents were perfectly happy with that, too.

[the.fee.fairy]

in a totally hippy and spiritual way, i think that the birds around us understand that when one of their babies falls out of the nests and ends up in a cage on my roof, that we're helping them. I think they become less sensitive to humans because we live with them.

i've been told a few times by a lot of people to 'put it back where you found it' and i just can't do that...most of the time the birds end up under the carport, or in the garden where a cat or dog might attack it (not my dog...he understands about the things with wings..).

Maybe its because i allow the adults to feed that babies when they're strong enough, so the adult birds realise that its a baby bird and not the spawn of the demon humans!!

We've got a pair of doves in our garden that nest in the tree every year, the poor things have had to put up with us climbing the tree to see the babies every spring!! Now, they just fly a bit higher and watch us as we peer at their young. Then when we've finished looking, they give us looks of 'that's out baby hat is...isn't it pretty!'. They like my dog too, he chases the horrible cats that keep trying to get to their nest.