FAQs
One of our main purposes is to share helpful information to our community that will help the birds and wildlife in our area thrive. If you have a question that we don't answer below, please feel free to email us.
What do I do if I find an abandoned baby bird (nestling)?
In most cases, worry not. If you see a baby bird hopping on the ground with parents fluttering nearby, it is a fledgling and does not need help from humans. If you see a baby bird only partially feathered and unable to walk or fly, it may indeed need help. Your first choice should be to locate the nest it fell from and, if possible, place it back in.
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It’s a myth that a bird will reject a baby touched by humans, and a baby bird stands the best chance of recovery being raised by its parents. If the nest is on the ground, you have another opportunity to keep it in the care of its parents. You can replace the nest with a small plastic tub with holes about the diameter of a pencil cut in its bottom for drainage, put the babies back inside, and secure it back in the tree in the general vicinity. Watch closely; it’s very likely the parents will accept the new nest and continue to raise their babies in it.
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If these attempts have failed, it’s possible you’ll need to take the orphaned birds to one of three local wildlife rehabilitation shelters or drop-off locations. In appreciation for their work to save such orphaned and/or injured birds, Jayhawk Audubon has recently made gifts of $500 each to the following local organizations: Operation Wildlife, Northeast Kansas Wildlife Rescue, and Prairie Park Nature Center. We hope you will support them, too!
Statement on Avian Influenza
Avian influenza, or bird flu, appears to present minimal risk to humans. Risk to songbirds (common visitors to bird feeders) also appears very low, according to Dr. Julianna Lenoch, who directs the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (USDA APHIS) National Wildlife Disease Program. There has been no official recommendation that people should take down bird feeders unless they also keep domestic poultry such as a backyard poultry flock.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology Guidelines