Found a Small Sparrow Nestling

[kirstenchickenlady]

So yesterday evening I was visiting my father in law with my hubby. Father has a ton of Saskatoon bushes in his yard, a couple Saskatoons started sprouting in some cinder blocks under his house eve’s. Hubby and I asked his dad if we could take them home to plant them at our yard.... I went to take them out of the ground and noticed a little nestling that fell from the eves (there are a few sparrow nests up there).

This little guy was dead unfortunately . Then I looked to the right and found probably it’s sibling moving around! Omg I said! Another one and it’s alive. I quickly grabbed it and warmed it up in my hands then headed home. It looks to be only a day old. It’s so small, the egg tooth is still visible as well.

When we got home I grabbed a seed starter heating pad, a shoebox and a towel to make a nest. I feed this little guy every couple hours or whenever it’s hungry. It’s so tiny and the chirps are so small sounding. It’s a house sparrow and they are nuisance species here so they won’t be accepted from the local animal shelter.... So I’ve decided to raise this little guy myself!

Thought I would post this cute little story and update you guys on this little birds progress!

 

[casportpony]

Adorable! What will you be feeding it?

 

[kirstenchickenlady]

Adorable! What will you be feeding it?

I’m feeding it soaked cat food. Its tummy gets really big when it eats a lot . The skin is so translucent, I can see it’s ribs!

 

[Chicky Lover]

Wow, good luck! Where did you find it?

 

[cassie]

The cat food will work. The rehab unit feeds their baby birds dog food and the meat eaters get cat food, for whatever that is worth. Sparrows make good pets. I don't know whether it is legal to keep them or not, but I wouldn't worry about it. For years I had a pet Magpie. I scooped him up just before the cat got him. It was definitely illegal to keep him but I just told everyone he was a California Mynah bird.

 

[FolkSonginC]

If you can see the nests you really should see if you can put him back, the parents don't recognize their babies by smell so it won't matter that you've touched it. They really need the parents to teach them everything they need to know and give them the right nutrients, it's almost impossible to replicate what the mother birds feed them because a lot of it is in the saliva. It's hard not to keep wild baby birds as pets but they will have a much better chance at life if they are raised by their own parents.

 

[FolkSonginC]

Also unless you are planning to keep it in a cage it will have to forage for food on its own, which is not something you could easily teach it to do, and if you let it fly free it won't understand natural dangers and has a higher chance of getting killed. If you aren't able to put it back in the nest the next best thing would be to see if you can take it to a wildlife rehabilitator. Best of luck to you and the sparrow!

Edit: I just reread and saw that you said it wouldn't be accepted by your local wildlife shelter. So hopefully it's possible to put it back in the nest, or you could probably find one that would take it. I don't think it's common for a rehabilitation center to not accept a bird simply because it's invasive.

 

[FolkSonginC]

nestlings also really need to be every 30 minutes for as long as you can stand, but ideally at least 12 hours per day (sorry to keep bombarding you with info lol)

 

[cassie]

If the OP wants to keep it for a pet, she should keep it for a pet. Wildlife rehab centers take so-called pest species like starlings and sparrows and feed them to something like owls or hawks. Sometimes putting as orphan back in the nest is just not possible. Maybe you can't find the nest or reach it if you can. The nest may be destroyed. The parents may have been killed. Whatever. If I were the OP I would just keep it. Sparrows and starlings make fine pets. So did my magpie, or as I called him, my California Mynah bird.

 

[Chicken Chiquita]

Good for you @kirstenchickenlady ! Have fun raising him, and please keep me updated!!!