I found baby bird...?

Question

On my front porch light, there's a pair of mourning doves who have a nest and some babies.

This morning I found one of the babies on the porch a couple feet away from the nest. None the parents were sitting on the nest, so I picked it up and put it back in the nest, while I was putting it back in the nest I noticed an egg too.

(It suprised me that the parents weren't sitting on the nest.)

It's been almost 7 hours after I but the baby back and I've been watching the nest, and none of the parents have come to the nest.

I just now realized that once you touch a baby bird and get your smell all over it, the parents will reject it. But the thing is that the parents haven't been back at all.

So, what do you suggest I do?

Answer 1

Not true.  Most birds do not have a keen since of smell and will not reject the baby, if touched.  Mourning doves also do not feed their young as often as other songbirds, so you may not see the parents return to feed it.  Mourning doves stuff the crops of their young with partially digested seed and leave them for longer periods of time between feedings.  If the dove is fully feathered, it may have fledged the nest.  Once they leave the nest, they do not return to it.  The parents will continue to keep an eye on it and feed it until it is fully flighted.  If the bird still has creamy white down and was that far away from the nest, then something has likely been to the nest and displaced the baby.  You can gently palpate the front of the dove's chest/throat (its crop) and determine whether or not the bird is being fed by its parents.  If you are uncertain as to whether or not you can feel seeds in there, I would contact a local permitted songbird rehabilitator in your area for assistance.

Answer 2

If the baby dove is an older dove, the egg might be an infertile egg that never hatched in the first place. If the dove is still quite young and you're unsure that it can survive without the parents, you might want to call the local wildlife rescue center.

Answer 3

It is likely that it will be rejected.  Do not worry about the eggs, sometimes the parents will go off foraging for a while and should be back by nightfall.  I would leave it at that.  It might be that they will not come back to the nest until the coast is clear, so your watching it might be disturbing them.  Leave well alone and perhaps everything will be ok.  It is practically impossible to hand rear baby wild birds so do not even go there.  I tried it once with a starling when I was younger and then it died.

Nature seems cruel, but it has its reasons.

Answer 4

you should just let it go in a tree or if the mommy brid is still there give it to her it once it happed to me but it was still an egg lol

Answer 5

Oh it is really easy to hand feed baby doves. Simply get them in a safe place like an aquarium or small cage and keep them in there, then hand feed them wheat bread, by softly forcing their mouth open and they should swallow the bread right away if they are hungry then give them drops of water. They are very easy keepers when you hand feed them and turn out to be great little pets.

Answer 6

I dont know your location, but it may be quite warm enough so that the parents dont need to sit on the egg to keep it warm.    Baby birds often wander from their nest as they get older so its not unusual for them to be near the nest but not inside the nest.  The egg may hatch later, or it may be a "dud".  Not every egg hatches.  It is a myth that birds can smell a human on a baby bird and then reject it.  Birds have very poor senses of smell, and dont really care that babies have been touched.  The parents might abandon the baby if they feel threatened that their own lives are at risk, but the urge to raise and protect the baby is very strong and that overcomes a lot of fear.  Mourning doves drink milk from a special gland inside the mothers mouth.  You cant really reproduce that, so its best that you leave the parents to do their job.  If the baby is big enough to be wandering about, then the parents are off eating to keep their own strength and they will return to take care of the baby when it needs it.  You could put some seeds on your porch or nearby to help the parents in their search for food.

Answer 7

Normally, I would tell you to leave it alone, but doves are rarely away from their nest.  You are probably correct to be concerned.

It was right to put the baby back in the nest, but if the parents have not returned, they may have been scared off by a predator...or people too close to the nest?

Don't worry about the parents abandoning the baby, because you touched it.  99.9% of birds have a poor sense of smell.

BIRDS CAN'T SMELL HUMANS.  They will not reject a chick that has been touched.

If you are sure that the parents have not returned,  please contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

Check this link for worldwide listings:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact....

In the US, rehabilitation is regulated by the Federal government and State DNR depts. Services are free to the public, as all native wild birds are protected by federal law.

There are several sites with listing of rehabbers, although the easiest way to find one is to search Yahoo! or Google for "wildlife rehabilitation + your state (full and abbreviated)". Also search on "DNR rehabilitation + your state".

You may be able to find a contact for a nearby rehabber through your local humane society, animal shelter, or police department.

Links are also available on these sites:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/

http://www.greenpeople.org/sanctuary.htm

http://www.iwrc-online.org/

http://wrcmn.org/public/default.asp

http://www.wildliferehabilitators.com/li...

Do not attempt to care for this bird on your own.  It's illegal for anyone other than a licensed wildlife rehabilitator to have native wild birds in their possession.