When baby birds are learning to fly, how does the mother bird get them back to the nest?

Question

Say the baby bird is starting to fly, and it lands on the gound. How does the mother get it back to the nest, or keep it safe?

Answer 1

once a baby bird is ready to fly, it is ready to live on its own through instinct. and once it flies from the nest, it is free, and will start its own life. almost like an adult bird. no longer momma's baby!

FYI, if you are wondering when a baby bird accidentally falls out of a nest, well that's a sad situation... there is no real way to get the bird back up there. most of them will die from impact of the fall.

Answer 2

They don't get them back to the nest..once a bird fledges (leaves a nest on it's own), that is it..it does not go back.  The parents care for it on the ground or in low scrubs, trees, etc. until they can learn to be independent.  This is why baby birds are very vulnerable to being eaten...especially by domesticated cats.

Answer 3

I woud say they never return to the nest.

This summer I have seen English sparrows and Cardinals feeding young that had left the nest. The young were hanging about the yard in trees and the parent bird just followed them around as they went here and there for a couple of days. The cardinals are still about feeding at the feeders but after three weeks I do not see the parents feeding the juvenials anymore.