Baby Birds and Protective Parents

The California towhee is one of my favorite birds. They are the first bird we hear in the morning and the last species to stop for a nightcap each evening.

Watch a CA towhee vocalizing and guarding its chick.

HD

CA towhee parents move their chicks out of the nest early to avoid snakes and other bird predators that might easily find their low-built nests. Baby CA towhee on the ground. Tiny Towhee in the grass. I've had numerous calls from people thinking that these chicks were abandoned. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Most birds are excellent parents. Birds leave young chicks in a protected place and come back to feed them. From hummingbirds to hawks, I've had youngsters hanging out during the day while their parents are off looking for food. Before you try to "help," wait and let the avian parents do their job. You might even be rewarded with seeing a private moment between bird parents and offspring.

For more video of birds and wildlife - Visit my videoblog TheEarthMinute.com

Baby Bird Found Alone

This is the time of year when baby birds are about. 

If a baby bird is found out of a nest many people panic and think the tiny creature is in need of rescue. STOP!

Most likely that baby bird has parents near by. This California towhee is still downy and is unable to fly, but its parents have purposefully moved it out of the nest. It is sitting in this spot just a foot off the ground because its parents led it to this safe location and told their chick to stay there.

Some birds find greater survival rates for their chicks by encouraging them out of low lying nests and moving them to different locations in clumps of grass or low shrubs. This chick had two parents hunting for food only twenty feet away. 

Occasionally, the parents were no where to be seen, but for the most part they were close by all day long. 

When evening comes, the parents will probably move their two chicks again to a safe roosting spot for the night. A second chick was under our car port.

Birds are very good parents. Even in cases where predators have damaged nests and chicks have fallen out, parent birds will come back and feed their offspring. Handling a chick and putting it back in the nest will not scare off the parents. Hummingbird chick.

The best caregiver for a baby bird is its parents. They provide the right food and in some cases bacteria and enzymes necessary for digestion.

Baby birds need their parents. Watch from a distance and you will be amazed at the attention and care they give their chicks.

Bewick's wrens build a nest.
Baby bird in grass

See more California local birds - Walk the Beach in Malibu

Hummingbird nests.

Pre-School for Cooper's Hawks

young Cooper's hawk

The Cooper’s hawks have had a huge family this year. They first mated back in March. They must have lost the first clutch, but they are making up for it. There are four recently fledged juveniles hanging out in the backyard. In the morning and late afternoon they raucously call for their parents to bring them food.

Two of the larger juveniles are starting to follow the parents. It would be fascinating to see if they are watching their parents hunt.

Catching enough food to provision the four youngsters, who are now as large as their parents, is a Herculean task. The parents aren’t being picky about prey; rats have even become part of the fare.

With four youngsters to watch over, it's understandable that while the parents were off with the bigger chicks when they first left the nest, they missed that the little one didn't want to be left behind. The little hawk was not yet able to fly and ended up on a neighbor's front porch, just steps from the sidewalk. The flurry of humans wanted to "save" the little guy. But these hawks are devoted parents, like most birds, I convinced everyone to give the parents time to collect their youngster. I relocated the juvenile a short distance from its landing spot to an area that was away from the sidewalk, shaded yet visible to the parents. The parents did return and communicated to their little one what it needed to do, to get safely up into a tree.

He is flying a little, but still not well enough to follow the parents. The smallest of the juveniles he's pictured here. He's hungry enough that he has started trying to catch his own food. His movements are not skillful and his attempts seem to be in slow motion. He went toward a group of house finches, who stayed just out of his reach, then he turned to go after a fox squirrel. The squirrel couldn’t believe its eyes at first. It moved just out of the young hawks reach, then actually came back to taunt the young bird.

When he isn’t calling for his parents, the young hawk sits watching the small birds that one day will be its food staple. He’s learning how they fly, their alarm calls, how they respond to threats. His sharp eyes are ever watchful.  Cooper's hawk on fountain.

Meanwhile the California towhees are taking no chances. They are teaching their youngster to fly under the covered patio and carport. No use tempting the young Cooper’s hawk to make its first self-caught meal a young towhee just learning to fly.

What To Do With a Baby Bird

Baby birds, we see them out of the nest, shudder at their vulnerability and immediately think they need our help. But STOP! 

Before you do anything with that baby bird, stand back, watch and listen. 

CA towhee chick, fuzzy grey in the center in the grass

There is a baby bird, all fluff and down, in some tall grass in my backyard right now. It doesn't have flight feathers and its little legs are wobbly. But this little bird did not fall out of a nest. It's parents pushed it.

California towhees are ground-feeding birds. They like their chicks up and on the move ASAP. Amid a flutter of brown wings and successive chirps, I watched this morning as the pair of California towhees were leading this tiny youngster out of the chaparral and into our yard.

Once the little one was in the yard and accidentally sheltered in the grass, the parents took turns guarding it and occasionally bringing food. I say it was accidentally sheltered in the grass because it took a tumble off a short block wall and into the grass. Don't worry, it's fine.

The towhees however are having a stressful day. Without the protection of the nest, their chick is vulnerable and they are working together to protect it. When a Bewick's wren and an Allen's hummingbird both stopped to glance at the youngster, the towhee pair tolerated their presence. But when a fox squirrel was passing too close, the towhees acted as a team to drive the squirrel off. They chased that rodent completely out of the yard. 

I've looked a few times to make sure that the tiny chick is OK. At first glance it appears to be a lone, distressed nestling on the ground. But the parents are close-by. If I don't see them, I hear them. Bird parents are devoted. This pair seems to be putting all of their efforts into this lone offspring. Do they sometimes need help? Yes. But most of the time they need us to stand back, watch, listen and let them do their job.