Gayle Pille: Please stop kidnapping those baby birds; leave them be — they are trying to grow up

Songbird rehabilitator Ginger Rood has a request for folks – stop kidnapping baby birds!

Ginger, Northern Kentucky’s only songbird rehabilitator, is seeing way too many fledgling baby birds this season for rescue and rehabilitation. Many of them are literally being stolen from under their parent’s beaks.

You see, when baby birds leave the nest they are called fledglings, meaning they have left the nest, or “fledged.”

Fledglings are well-feathered, hopping around and learning to fly, but still being cared for by their parents.

They may look vulnerable, helpless and in need of help; but if you are truly observant you’ll almost always see the fledgling is being cared for by one or both parents. It is all a part of growing up.

So, if you see a baby bird hopping about, don’t run out and pick it up. Mom or Dad are almost always close by.

However, if a fledgling ventures into the street and is in danger of getting hit by a car, herd it back to the nearest shrub.

Not to worry, the parents will find it.

What about baby birds that fall from the nest before the fledgling stage – before they are well-feathered and cannot move around freely? Or even worse, the entire nest falls to the ground?

Usually the nest and/or babies will fall directly below the nest location.

If the baby birds are on the ground, look in the immediate area and try to locate the nest and place the babies back inside.

If the entire nest of babies falls to the ground, secure it to the tree or shrub it fell from. If destroyed, make a new one with a plastic tub.

First of all, punch several holes in the bottom of the tub to allow for drainage so the babies won’t drown in a downpour.

Then place what is left of the old nest, add new nesting material if needed, and securely wire the tub, with babies, back into the tree it fell from.

Don’t worry about the parents abandoning their chicks because you’ve left your “scent” behind.

Songbirds have little, if any, sense of smell. It is pure myth that birds will reject their young if they have the scent of humans.

Ginger Rood has rehabilitated thousands of birds over the last 20 years.

However, she’d much prefer that raising young birds be left to the real experts – their parents.

So please, no kidnapping!

Gayle Pille is a local naturalist and nature writer who many know through her work to establish the five-mile network of nature trails at Highland Cemetery in Ft. Mitchell. She created the cemetery’s popular 25-year-old Wildlife Enhancement Program and works with a small team of volunteers to maintain the cemetery’s wooded walking paths. An avid birdwatcher, Gayle also builds custom wildlife nest boxes for businesses, parks and residences through her business, www.woodlandhabitat.com

Contact her at gaylepille@yahoo.com

Read more about Ginger Rood and her bird rehabilitation at NKyTribine, Bird woman