I was packing up after being in the garden straightening a wheel (grrr) when I found a light brown bird nestling on my exterminator tennis racket type device on the garden table.

His/Her little heart was going and he/she was blinking, etc, but did not seem to want to move.

It sat there for quite a while not looking like he/she wanted to move, but I was wary of our pet cat, who is pathetically timid in nearly everything else.

I picked up the tennis racket to see if his/her feet were OK and as I put it down he/she raised up and tried to fly to the top of the fence about 10 feet away, but didn’t quite make it and feel down into the garden.

I picked it up before the cat could get there and put the bird in a cardboard box, which is inside the house at the moment and the bird is sitting there sedately.

What’s the next step, see if the bird has recovered in the morning and if not take it to the vet, or let the cat have it?

sauteed potatoes, green beans, white wine sauce

yunki, little birds are allergic to white wine sauce 🙁

nestling on my exterminator tennis racket

You know what to do.

His/Her little heart was going and he/she was blinking, etc, but did not seem to want to move.

Sounds like fear/shock. Leave it so it parents can reach it whilst keeping the cat away.

Found this on the RSPB website…
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/faqs.aspx

Baby Robin?

surlyfacedshitehawk? (2nd time tonight)

not sure what it is as it a bit of a lighter brown that I expected for a female blackbird.

I posted the wrong image link, so try this:

It looks like a Collared Dove to me.

Ahh bless, looks young. Good that you got it out of the way of your cat, and out of the way of foxes overnight, but its parents might not want it now there has been intervention. Can I suggest don’t turf it out overnight, but realistically tomorrow if you can’t keep cats away I think you’re looking at some kind of shelter/RSPB/RSPCA/PDSA or, frankly (sorry) bash it on the head so it dies quickly and relatively painlessly. It’s horrible to see when ants get on something that’s still alive (and crows peck eyes out, revolting).

that’s a baby great auk – totally flightless when they grow up, largely flightless when young

don’t see many about these days

Do you own a shovel?

I had the same situation with a young magpie.
The parents were still around and hadn’t abandoned it so I didn’t want to intervene but after two days it was still there and still getting weaker so I called a local vets.

They were super helpful and said to bring it in. Apparently after a few days the parents will abandone it anyway and it’s generally only a matter of time before cats/dogs/foxes get to them.

Try the RSPB website – they had a link on there to vets who take stray birds in my local area.

friends had an abandoned thrush to deal with.. two years on and it still lives in their kitchen..

From Moda’s link :

The young of many birds will fledge after they grow feathers, but before they are able to fly.

They spend a day or two on the ground before their feather development is complete. It is really best not to interfere. The parents will be close by and come to feed the bird as soon as it is safe.

If the bird is in a vulnerable position it will do no harm to move it into shelter but not too far away as the parents will then be unable to find it. Touching a bird will not make the parents abandon it.

Don’t kill it, just leave it alone, if possible somewhere safe where the parents can get to it (off the ground isn’t a bad idea if possible)

Fledgling Stock Dove I reckon.
In which case : What’s for tea?

that looks like it ernie.

I shall leave it in the box overnight and see what it is like in the morning.

Are they pretty common, if I have to send him to the big collared dove in the sky will it impact his species?

what if I put him in the cardboard box on the top of the flatroof garage in case his parents are looking for him, or will they have turned in for the night?

You best leave it where it’s parents can get to it first thing soon after dawn when it is quiet and it will be hungry. A flattish shed roof would be good. We used to have loads of Collared Doves in my part of Croydon but haven’t seen one in my road for years, don’t know what the situation is for them in the rest of the country.

EDIT : Hadn’t seen your last post. Yes that would be perfect. His/her best chance will be if the parents get to him/her first light.

ok, I will put him on the roof at 6am.

Seems a friendly chap, or at least quite passive.

thanks for the advice 🙂

Theyre not native either and breed year round, so if it dies i wouldnt lose any sleep

There isn’t much meat on them. I wouldn’t bother plucking, gutting, etc. Just rip the breasts off, it’s the best part to cook and eat. Wring it’s neck first, no need to be inhumane.

Just wring its neck.
And as for the magpie? Egg thieves and not exactly friends of the songbird population, best place for that would be a Larsen trap.

Just wring its neck.

Oh you big macho brute 🙂

Magpies are songbirds btw, as of course are all members of the crow family. The raven being the largest songbird in the world.

Sorry I should have been more clear and differentiated between corvids and Sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes etc.
My mistake.

Don’t worry a neighbourhood cat will be along in the night to put it out of it’s misery

It’s wildlife weekend at our house – two fox cubs have just been bounding around an open part of horsell common opposite the house and we have been watching them from the bedroom window – running round in circles and springing in the air, jumping on each other, leaping over and into a ditch by the road, fighting and playing with a black bin liner that is on the ground, etc.

he’s on the roof now – waiting for his parents or a bird of prey…

gone now – either taken, successful flown, or tried and crashed into next doors garden, where there hopefully aren’t any cats.