Wounded Sparrow-What to Do

When we came home there was an adorable sparrow chick hanging out on the sidewalk in front of our house. It didn't flich as I approached, thinking it didn't know better.

Then it attempted to fly and could barely stay up and ended up on its back. Looking from above, the wings aren't symmetric, and my ameteur guess is a broken wing.

We feel awful about just leaving this poor thing for the cats tonight. Is there anything we can do?

Call the Raptor Trust??

(and I just PMed you.)

He may just be learning to fly and making a mess of it. We have a ton of nests in our yards and fledgling birds that appear to be doing poorly. Sometimes they literally just fell from the nest and are recovering. Fledgling birds spend a day or two on the ground and usually the parents are close by. If you keep an eye on baby, you should see the parents swooping down to check in from time to time. Or when baby calls out, parents come to help. I know this because I was constantly finding "injured" babies until I was finally schooled by the local wildlife refuge. If it makes you feel better, you could put on some gardening gloves and move it to a nearby secluded spot in your yard. Its parents should still be able to find it if it's making a racket.

I think I would try putting on garden gloves and moving the baby to a more protected spot in the yard. It will surely be killed on the sidewalk, before it learns to fly.

Have you noticed the parents around, dk50b?

It's clearly injured and hasn't made a peep when I watch. Can't get photos to upload. Looking at Raptor Trust info.

Yeah, if it is injured, they are the best people to contact. But maybe move it into a box indoors before it gets totally dark outside, because a predator WILL get it overnight if it stays where it is.

OTOH, I have no idea whether it will survive the night in any case. Sorry, dk50b.

You have to feed baby birds every hour or they can die. You can grind up food in a blender and feed with an eyedropper. There are probably more directions on line. The important thing is getting them food.

For the record, do not feed the baby bird without talking to a bird rehabilitation person first.

They can determine the age and what's appropriate for it.

The raptor trust is about 20 mins away.

We had been enjoying a local family of blue jays when an awful commotion woke us early this past weekend -- the neighbor's cat (which had always been an indoor cat, but they've decided to "make it an outdoor cat") had grabbed one of the fledglings. We watched the furious parent birds swooping and diving at the cat as he brought it up onto the neighbor's deck. The parent birds sat in the neighbor's tree and screamed for almost an hour. The fledglings had been doing fine with their flying -- just not smart enough yet, I guess, to look out for predators.

beppolina said:
We had been enjoying a local family of blue jays when an awful commotion woke us early this past weekend -- the neighbor's cat (which had always been an indoor cat, but they've decided to "make it an outdoor cat") had grabbed one of the fledglings. We watched the furious parent birds swooping and diving at the cat as he brought it up onto the neighbor's deck. The parent birds sat in the neighbor's tree and screamed for almost an hour. The fledglings had been doing fine with their flying -- just not smart enough yet, I guess, to look out for predators.

The circle of life. Once at Turtle Back Zoo, I watched a blue jay grab a baby bird out of its nest and proceed to peck it to death before taking it away to eat.

There's an Avian Rehab Center in Wantage. http://www.avianwildlifecenter.org

Might be more appropriate for a sparrow than the raptor center.

Here's what they say to do:

Carefully pick up the bird so you do not hurt it or yourself. Placing a towel, fishing net or box over the whole bird may be a safer way to restrain some injured birds. Once captured, place it in a box with a towel on the bottom.
[N]ever force liquids or food into the bird since this will stress it more. Phone the AWC as soon as possible.

Any developments?

I have to clearly state that The Raptor Trust may have the word raptor in their name - HOWEVER they take in somewhere between 2000 to 5000 baby birds every year. They started out rehabbing raptors and while still their main focus, they help ALL birds.

Sadly the sparrow did not make it. Thanks for everyone's advise. Knock on wood this doesn't happen again but if it does, we know what to do.

tjohn said:

beppolina said:
We had been enjoying a local family of blue jays when an awful commotion woke us early this past weekend -- the neighbor's cat (which had always been an indoor cat, but they've decided to "make it an outdoor cat") had grabbed one of the fledglings. We watched the furious parent birds swooping and diving at the cat as he brought it up onto the neighbor's deck. The parent birds sat in the neighbor's tree and screamed for almost an hour. The fledglings had been doing fine with their flying -- just not smart enough yet, I guess, to look out for predators.

The circle of life. Once at Turtle Back Zoo, I watched a blue jay grab a baby bird out of its nest and proceed to peck it to death before taking it away to eat.

Feral cats take a terrible toll on the songbird population in our area.