We have a nest of almost ready to fledge Blackbirds in a shoulder height nest in our fir tree.
One of them has somehow made it to our water butt at the other end of the garden. It is now hiding there making pitiful chirrups and the mother is feeding it.
The dilemma is, if I leave it there it WILL get killed, either by my dog or the neighbour’s cat. I know the advice is just to leave stranded fledglings but in this case, it’s certain death. It would take me ten seconds to scoop it up and replace it in its nest but I know this can lead to abandonment by the mother.
What would you do? I’m leaning towards giving it a 50/50 chance and replacing it but worry that the mother might abandon the whole lot of them.