Rescued a super cute baby bird lol

[sak_soon]

I don't know if it's considered as a pet lol.
I picked him up few weeks ago and he's growing super fast!
I'm hoping to return him back to nature once he's able to eat on his own.
Omg when he was small little boi, he was like the cutest thing in the whole world ♥ !!!!
I worked on only two videos, but I will upload more videos of cuteness..
And eventually, you will see him flying away into the wild life!

[souffle]

You shouldn't really handle them if you want to return them to the wild. They imprint really easily on humans then they don't survive when released. A wildlife rescue is the best place for them to be honest where they can be raised with other young birds and learn to be a bird. Is there anywhere nearbye you could take it?

[sak_soon]

Originally Posted by souffle

You shouldn't really handle them if you want to return them to the wild. They imprint really easily on humans then they don't survive when released. A wildlife rescue is the best place for them to be honest where they can be raised with other young birds and learn to be a bird. Is there anywhere nearbye you could take it?

I have gone to this one bird rescue place, but sadly they said they are only focused on birds that are originally from US or extincting birds. They can take sparrows, but they usually take them down right away if there's a little problem... I found another baby bird on the way to this bird rescue place(what a coincidence!), but they said they might have to take it down because it's infected by something already plus it's not very important to save its life by putting so much effort with a vet being involved. I couldn't take Chilli, the baby sparrow's name lol, to the bird rescue after hearing all these stuffs D;... They told me it's better for the bird to stay in my house if it's a sparrow, which made me a little upset because it seems like they work at this place just because this is their job, no passion to save all these poor little guys.. I think I have it recorded on my camera and I will deff upload this video if I still have it.

[souffle]

That's a shame that they can't take him. Try and be as hands off as possible and a gradual reintroduction to the wild by way of an aviary if possible. You may have to keep feeding him after release.

[Roborovski Riddler]

Hello sak soon,

I don't know if you still have the baby bird or if you were able to reintroduce it to the wild, but having a lot of experience with them and strategies of reintroduction, here are some tips I can offer:
-Offer him several possible perches such as plastic/real trees, wooden sticks, ect where he can perch. Constantly being on a flat surface will cause him to develop a condition called splay leg. In addition, in the first video, birds are NEVER comfortable being on the ground at a low point and will cause a lot of stress. Ensure that the bird has access to a high point perch.
-Put him in an area most like the outdoors. When I had a baby sparrow, I kept him in the porch but a garage could easily work (if no cars are parked). Sadly, birds do not live for long unless they are in the right humidity, temperature, ect. They cannot survive like domesticated birds in cages.
-To maximize the possibility of complete reintroduction to the wild, what I've found is that you just have to allow him to explore the outdoors. When I was reintroducing a baby sparrow, I kept him in an open garage, and whenever he felt he could fly outside. The amazing part is that since you've had the bird for quite some time (month+), they will remain near the area (above the house, nearby tree). Whenever you go outside, they will come to you for food/drink. This allows them to become acquainted with the wild while also maintaining some dependency. This strategy only works if you've had the bird for a long time.
-As time progresses, the bird will slowly begin to look for food on its own when you aren't immediately available (do not keep food outside as this will attract competing birds and only strengthen the dependency). In my experience, as the sparrow spent more time outside than within the garage, its instincts kicked in and it actually became more weary of my hands. It would not let me hold him but instead would allow me to feed it through tweezers or on the ground.
-The bird will return to you so long as you continue to feed it, but within a month or so the bird should be able to sustain itself in the wild. The bird may never fully acquire the fear instincts necessary, so it is possible that while in the wild your bird will sometimes freely approach humans and any pets you've made it familiar to. This is the true problem with raising by hand.

I must mention however that based upon the pictures you provided, it looks like the sparrow is a fledgling and it is actually very common to find them on the ground looking "abandoned". Fledglings usually leave the nest before they have full flight capabilities and it is simply a risk they must take (despite neighborhood dangers) if they are to learn the skills of adulthood. The parent is usually in the vicinity finding food, and will continue to take care of the fledgling even despite it leaving the nest. Chilli also has apparent tail feathers, which means he is very capable of fleeing and maneuvering himself. Although it is true that your area may be very dangerous for the fledgling, leaving it alone would really have been the only way to maximize their chance of survival. Reintroducing birds to the wild is very difficult, and if they are raised in captivity, rarely ever live a normal life. The only circumstances where caring for the bird is necessary is if it is injured and is a house sparrow, pigeon or a starling (these birds are not protected under US law). The sparrow I cared for was injured on its leg and its sole parent had been killed. Also, if it is younger than a fledgling (flight feathers not apparent) it should be cared for and sent to a rehabilitation center if returning it to the nest is impossible.

Finally, if you live in the United States, taking birds protected under the Migratory Bird Act into captivity is actually against the law and should be avoided at all costs. However since your bird is a non-native species, there really is nothing stopping you from caring for the chick anyway (People hunt these birds for sport lol). Wildlife refuges and rehabilitaters cannot divert resources to care for the sparrow for it is an invasive species and you must consider that in reality, these birds are the cause of millions of dollars worth of environmental and infrastructural damage across the United States. They are ultimately pests that should be eradicated :/

I know ended on a sour note, but anyway good luck, and wish you the best.

[sak_soon]

Originally Posted by Roborovski Riddler

Hello sak soon,

I don't know if you still have the baby bird or if you were able to reintroduce it to the wild, but having a lot of experience with them and strategies of reintroduction, here are some tips I can offer:
-Offer him several possible perches such as plastic/real trees, wooden sticks, ect where he can perch. Constantly being on a flat surface will cause him to develop a condition called splay leg. In addition, in the first video, birds are NEVER comfortable being on the ground at a low point and will cause a lot of stress. Ensure that the bird has access to a high point perch.
-Put him in an area most like the outdoors. When I had a baby sparrow, I kept him in the porch but a garage could easily work (if no cars are parked). Sadly, birds do not live for long unless they are in the right humidity, temperature, ect. They cannot survive like domesticated birds in cages.
-To maximize the possibility of complete reintroduction to the wild, what I've found is that you just have to allow him to explore the outdoors. When I was reintroducing a baby sparrow, I kept him in an open garage, and whenever he felt he could fly outside. The amazing part is that since you've had the bird for quite some time (month+), they will remain near the area (above the house, nearby tree). Whenever you go outside, they will come to you for food/drink. This allows them to become acquainted with the wild while also maintaining some dependency. This strategy only works if you've had the bird for a long time.
-As time progresses, the bird will slowly begin to look for food on its own when you aren't immediately available (do not keep food outside as this will attract competing birds and only strengthen the dependency). In my experience, as the sparrow spent more time outside than within the garage, its instincts kicked in and it actually became more weary of my hands. It would not let me hold him but instead would allow me to feed it through tweezers or on the ground.
-The bird will return to you so long as you continue to feed it, but within a month or so the bird should be able to sustain itself in the wild. The bird may never fully acquire the fear instincts necessary, so it is possible that while in the wild your bird will sometimes freely approach humans and any pets you've made it familiar to. This is the true problem with raising by hand.

I must mention however that based upon the pictures you provided, it looks like the sparrow is a fledgling and it is actually very common to find them on the ground looking "abandoned". Fledglings usually leave the nest before they have full flight capabilities and it is simply a risk they must take (despite neighborhood dangers) if they are to learn the skills of adulthood. The parent is usually in the vicinity finding food, and will continue to take care of the fledgling even despite it leaving the nest. Chilli also has apparent tail feathers, which means he is very capable of fleeing and maneuvering himself. Although it is true that your area may be very dangerous for the fledgling, leaving it alone would really have been the only way to maximize their chance of survival. Reintroducing birds to the wild is very difficult, and if they are raised in captivity, rarely ever live a normal life. The only circumstances where caring for the bird is necessary is if it is injured and is a house sparrow, pigeon or a starling (these birds are not protected under US law). The sparrow I cared for was injured on its leg and its sole parent had been killed. Also, if it is younger than a fledgling (flight feathers not apparent) it should be cared for and sent to a rehabilitation center if returning it to the nest is impossible.

Finally, if you live in the United States, taking birds protected under the Migratory Bird Act into captivity is actually against the law and should be avoided at all costs. However since your bird is a non-native species, there really is nothing stopping you from caring for the chick anyway (People hunt these birds for sport lol). Wildlife refuges and rehabilitaters cannot divert resources to care for the sparrow for it is an invasive species and you must consider that in reality, these birds are the cause of millions of dollars worth of environmental and infrastructural damage across the United States. They are ultimately pests that should be eradicated :/

I know ended on a sour note, but anyway good luck, and wish you the best.

Omg you sound like super knowledgeable and experienced! Yeah, I heard the fact you talked about on the second paragraph when I stopped by the wild bird place. They told me the same thing what you just said here. I do still have the baby sparrow, and I believe it's been exactly a month since it was born. I was looking forward to return her to the nature, but it seems like it has some problem. The bird is still missing a lot of feathers. In the video and on pictures, she looks normal but when I picked her up, it was already missing a lot of feather... She still has a lot of bald spots which make me worry about. I googled about this problem and someone said it's impossible for birds if something is wrong with the feather.... Her ear hole is also exposed (idk if this is normal or not because I never had any type of bird D;.. and never looked so close to the bird lol) Her chest area, neck, armpits are still missing A LOT of feathers. I can see her skin on her face too.
It seems like she has been grown up so much, but her skin is still exposed way to much. And idk how to fix this problem. I'm prolly gonna buy some vitamins for birds to see if it will help her to grow healthy feathers. I'd like to hear opinion from you... I really need help from someone who is expert at this kind of situation..

To add some more, I found a couple of dead baby sparrows where I picked up Chili D;!!! I'm so glad I took Chili home... She could have been ended up like that...:'(

Thank you so much for your information!!!!