Hand Feeding a Baby House Sparrow

[Aviara]

I figured I'd share my little story! Last summer, before moving to Texas permanently, I volunteered a good deal of my time to a wild bird rehabilitation center. There I learned quite a lot about caring for baby songbirds, as the shelter in summertime could have about 200-500 of the little guys at a time of many different species, and only about 3-6 volunteers at a time (and occasionally there were only two of us!). Currently, I am a full-time student as well as working a few hours a week in a pet store where we sometimes get crazy stories and some unexpected animal visitors.

It's springtime now and the birds are just starting to pop out babies. For my town that's mostly grackles, house sparrows, and various native and non-native doves. A customer brought in a little baby house sparrow, still covered in pinfeathers, that had fallen from a high-up nest on campus at the local college. She at first wanted to hand feed the little guy herself, so I tried to walk her through the methods as best I could without being able to demonstrate while working, and gave her my number in case she needed any further advice. That night she told me that feeding the hatchling was too much for her, and asked me to take him in. Of course I didn't mind!

So now I'm hand feeding this little house sparrow, who's already getting much stronger. I'll post pictures soon - he's still in the cute-but-darn-ugly stage right before his pinfeathers open up and he starts flapping and thinking about flight. Just yesterday he got the strength and coordination to perch on a finger, although it's still a wobbly grip. Since these are an unprotected (invasive) species, I don't need a license to rehabilitate, and in fact I would be breaking the law if I released him into the wild once he's an adult! My current home is very bird-friendly, with an Indian ringneck parrot and a diamond dove pair who take turns free-flying around the house, so he may join the flock permanently if his personality allows for it.

I'll post pictures soon so you guys can watch his progress. I'm hoping for the best!

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

I wish you luck! Hand-feeding is hard, but rewarding work! Luckily I've only seen as many as 2 house sparrows around my yard. It's a shame they're so invasive, I actually enjoy them at my friend's house.

Last year I raised a young tufted titmouse. A massive raccoon destroyed their nesting box and this little guy was all that was left. Here he was just before he fledged.

 

[bugmankeith]

Wish I knew how to do this i've seen many young birds starve to death in my area because nest got destroyed and they fell out or parents got killed from something and left abandoned nest, rehab centers here dont help pigeons,starlings, or sparrows because they are "non native" they kill them usually. Even found a few birds where the store tarred the roof and purposely tarred the birds and they fell to the ground suffering, people just let them die slowly because they were pigeons and sparrows..

 

[PrettyHate]

1Lord of Ants 1- that little guy is downright adorable

Wish I knew how to do this i've seen many young birds starve to death in my area because nest got destroyed and they fell out or parents got killed from something and left abandoned nest, rehab centers here dont help pigeons,starlings, or sparrows because they are "non native" they kill them usually. Even found a few birds where the store tarred the roof and purposely tarred the birds and they fell to the ground suffering, people just let them die slowly because they were pigeons and sparrows..

Reminds me of the time I was driving home from work and saw a pigeon on the road that had been hit by a car , but was still alive. As I drove past, I swear that we made eye contact and it broke my heart at how scared the little guy must be. I pulled a U turn, parked on the other side of the street and then ran across 4 lanes of traffic (in rush hour mind you), chased the bird (who now decided that it was as good a time as any to start moving) across another 2 lanes of traffic, before finally catching him. He was really bloody, and I was alone, so I drove home with him on my lap, and his body wrapped up in a plastic bag with his head sticking out. Later that day I was able to bring him to the humane society....they assured me they would get someone to fix him up if possible...but who knows what actually happened. I want to believe that they fixed him up and he was good to go, but who knows if they would actually spend the time and resources on "just another pigeon".