Is it true that if you touch a baby bird it will not live long and the parents will not take it back?

Question

i have heard soooo much about this but i still dont know if its true...

Answer 1

Nope! It's completely untrue. Birds have a bad sense of smell, they wouldn't even know.

Answer 2

regarding not living long, touching it does not affect his health. as for the parents, I've heard it too, but I am not sure. The thing is, if you touch such a small bird, it means that it has fallen off the nest, so it needs humans to survive anyway. The parent birds cannot lift it. However, if you put it back in the nest or somewhere up on a box near the parents' nest, the parents come to feed it if ithey are around. you can watch for some time if the parents come to feed it. If not, try to care forit as follows.
You keep it in a cardboard box with holes, covered with a sort of a grid, like a shelf from your fridge. Not in a cage, because he is stressed if he sees you pass by. Put some newspapers at the bottom.
Soak kitten dry food in water. Wait till it gets soft, mash it up well, and put it in a syringe without the needle. Feed the bird about 2 cc every couple of hours, by putting the food deep in his mouth. Careful, don't choke it, but don't just put the food in the beak, you need to put it where the beeak ends and the throat starts. Make some tries to see when he swallows well.
Give him some water by dripping some drops from a wet cotton on the nostrils, they lead to the beak and you will see him swallow. Don't put anything other than water through the nostrils though, because you don't want to block them.
When he is ready to fly, you can release it. be careful, you must not try to see if he flies when he is still young. He must be a fully grown adult bird, witha a tail, who flies well. Young birds can fly, but not well enough. Also, before you let go, he must have learned to eat by himself, seeds, worms (not the ones sold as bait, they have poison), etc. and drink water. Good luck. Don't listen to people who say they can't survive. I work at a wildlife rescue centre and we raise many wild birds. It is tough though, it needs some experience, if you can find a rescue centre it is best to give it to them.

Answer 3

Just an old wives tale...not true in the least. I am an ornithologist (bird biologist) and part of my job is banding baby birds right in the nest. I have handled hundreds of baby birds and not once had an adult abandon due to this as birds have a poorly developed sense of smell. You may have heard not to touch baby birds as you can leave a scent on them that can be smelled by mammals and may lead them to a nest. Also, it is not a good idea to disturb nests or babies in the nest as this could cause the adult to abandon...just the disturbance alone...but not because anyone left a scent on the nest.

Answer 4

No, it's not true. In fact, if you can reach the nest without disturbing it, you can put the baby bird back in it. OR you can get a nest which you can buy from a pet store and attach it in the same tree or area nearby and the mother bird will likely feed it. Sometimes the baby bird is too weak or sick to eat after falling out of the nest and that may be the reason a mother bird is unable to feed it once replaced in or near the nest.

Answer 5

Not true....if you find a baby bird leave it alone.Most times the parents are still feeding it.If you can find the nest place baby back in nest.Keep eye on baby in case of cats nearby.If after many hours it is still there call a wildlife rehab person.If you have none in area feed it dry cat food that you soak in warm water( tiny bits).It must be mushy and soft.Feed with toothpick.This is very time consuming.Baby birds need to eat alot!!!!!! try to find wildlife rehab person even if you have to drive a distance.They know what they are doing.

Answer 6

It is NOT true. It is something parents tell their children so they won't play with baby birds.

I rescued a baby blue bird from my cat. I couldn't get him back to the nest because it was WAAAAY high in the tree. I took him in the house and kept him in a shoebox until he was old enough to fly. I fed him and everything. I would take him outside and the momma bird would fly down and sit with him. She would also feed him when he was outside. When he was old enough I let him go. He is still around and still comes to visit.

Answer 7

actually it depends on the bird and depends on how much 'handling' was done. I just rehab'd a baby American Kestral hawk which I found in the back yard. and he is now flying high with mom over our house daily. Some birds have a weak sense of smell yet have keen eye/ear senses. Even tho I was feeding HER baby strips of raw deer meat dipped in raw egg from a pet taxi, I kept the baby outside and mom would watch me from a telephone pole. When I came indoors, she would swoop down to hang on front door of pet taxi and talk to her baby and try to feed it ripped up dead mice. Once he could fly again with daily exercise and healing, I let him go and she is now teaching him to hunt. It is best not to touch baby birds found out of nest and yes some birds will reject them after being handled. Most parents do find their babies and try to feed them on the ground. the exception is when a mother's instinct has caused her to kick a baby out of the nest or a baby that fell out that is just to young to maintain body heat...the parents leave them to die and care for the healthy young still in the nest

Answer 8

Decals are not constantly sufficient for a window, relying on the way the solar hits it. ultimate the curtains surely purely makes it worse, because of the fact this amplifies the mirror effect that attracts them in the 1st place. I agree that obtaining a colour for the exterior of the window is your ultimate wager. Touching toddler birds would not make the mothers and dads abandon them, this is an previous better halves' tale, i've got been in many circumstances wherein i've got had to guard toddler birds and the mothers and dads constantly took them returned without a fuss. in the event that they have all their feathers, which skill they're fledging, they probable jumped out intentionally and the mothers and dads will guard them on the floor at the same time as they study the thank you to fly--they would be purely superb, you need no longer difficulty approximately them. in the event that they nonetheless have bare patches on some components of their bodies, they at the instant are not fledging yet--purely placed them someplace severe, like in a shallow basket tied to a low branch of the tree. the mothers and dads will see them or pay attention them chirping and are available guard them. circulate away them out, and if the climate turns bitter then you definately can carry them interior. this is advisable to top off on canned cat nutrition purely in case--this is the final element you could feed slightly one poultry, purely tear off little bits and feed them at the same time with your bare palms, i understand some human beings say to apply tweezers yet tweezers have sharp ends and can injury the toddler poultry's throat. never feed them worms or milk. as quickly as Gustav is long gone, see in case you could take them returned exterior; this is ultimate to enable the mothers and dads proceed to strengthen them. If the mothers and dads do no longer come back or overlook bearing directly to the toddlers, then you definately take them to a rehabber.

Answer 9

Trust me. It is false. I took in a baby bird for a couple days because it couldn't fly and it was raining outside. I asked a vet and she said it was false. Later, I released it. Plus the parents are not necessary to take care of it. I saw that a completely different bird taught it how to fly. The baby learned in about five minutes.

Answer 10

Birds don't have a keen sense of smell, so if a bird is outside the nest and you put it back, the mother bird will still care for it. However, if she pushed it out of the nest because it was ill, she will still reject.

Answer 11

NO its not true. Put the bird back in the nest if you can - if not you can try your hand at raising it or contact a rescue service