Fledgling

Hi found what I think is sparrow fledgling on the very hot path, it was struggling standing so I picked it up and put in garden border approx 2metres from where I found it. 

Any advice as what to do as not making any noise but still moving, eyes seem to be closed. 

  • Hi Ozzy, hope the little bird is still okay. You could put it in a carrier or box (with lots of air holes) some bird food and a shallow dish of water. It may be that it has been too hot for it or, flown into a window or been attacked, hopefully once it settles in peace and quiet for a while, it will be okay. I have done this on many occasions and thankfully they almost all survived.
  • Thanks for the response it looks like one of its eyes is hurt its swollen and closed its started moving more now its been a few hours and no mother has come to feed it. Its still unsteady on its feet but keeps walking around. So you suggest putting it in a box with some food and water then. Shall i leave it outside
  • What type of bird seed?
  • I use a wire plastic cat carrier, with some newspaper on the bottom and kitchen roll on top of that. Just ordinary bird food, you can by small bags or even from one of those scoop places as much or as little as you want, you can keep the box in a garage/shed or if you are having very hot weather, somewhere cool, inside would be fine for a short while, even overnight. If the parents were about you would need then to put the box outside but keep the lid open, so that mum and dad could look after and feed it, but then you have the risk of if being taken by a predator. If you put it out, tuck it under bushes or cover, near to where you found it if you can. Any I have done this with has been because of a window strike, so they have only been in a box a short while to recover, as they were either completely or partially dazed, and then let out. Good luck, we want to do the best we can, sometimes not the ending we would want.