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.

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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.

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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.

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.

Interaction Between California Quail and Other Birds

I've continued to do regular birding walks at Serrania Avenue Park. One of the species I've been looking for is California quail. The number of quail seems less than normal despite the ample rainfall that has been a boon to other species.

However, this morning we saw a plump pair and heard two additional males calling from the two sides of this canyon.

Unfortunately, the pair did not have any chicks following them. But we did observe something that we haven't seen before:

The two quail were making their way through tall dry mustard plants. They were feeding on either insects or seeds. Following them were two immature Bewick's wrens and an adult California towhee with three juveniles. The smaller young birds seemed to be taking advantage of what the larger quail were scaring up.

How different the San Fernando Valley must have looked when it was mostly tall grasses with a riparian corridor along the Los Angeles River and its tributaries. How many birds would have been feeding on the seeds and insects? What interaction between species would you have seen?

The more we can establish a quilt of native habitat across the suburban landscape, the more we may have an opportunity to understand the native wildlife that should be here.

Digging Deeper means understanding that the interconnection between species is essential to a sustainable world.

Hard Working Single Mom - Allen’s hummingbirds

The yard is filled with young birds just out of the nest. The California towhees have dropped off the first youngster of the year and gone off to raise a second brood. When I go out to pull a few weeds in my neglected vegetable garden, I usually have a companion. The young towhee keeps me in sight as it prowls the undergrowth for insects and seeds. I’m not sure if I am company or a second pair of eyes to watch for the Cooper’s hawk.

Unlike the towhees where both parents participate in feeding and raising the young, hummingbird females are all on their own. We don’t have many hummingbirds at our feeders, what we have is a nursery area–five or six Allen's hummingbird females nesting in specifically drawn territories. We seldom see males. The girls don’t want flashy breeding guys drawing attention to the location, so they typically chase them away. Occasionally a young male, usually hatched here, will be allowed to stay for a while. But as he reaches maturity, he is told in no uncertain terms that this area is off limits. Hummingbird mothers work hard to lay, incubate and then feed their young. They don’t want a male attracting attention and risking the lives of vulnerable nestlings.

Right now, the busiest kids in the yard are the four Allen’s hummingbirds that have fledged in the last two weeks. This year I have found four nesting females: A, C, D and F. A hatched here in the yard in 2005. When her mother disappeared, she seemed to inherit her mother’s territory. Last year she had trials as a mother, A’s nesting in 2007, this year she laid early and had her kids out of the nest before the jays came marauding.

A’s first brood fledged on 4/1 and 4/2. Typically, hummingbird eggs are laid a day or so apart and frequently the youngsters will be staggered in their maturity.

D made her first nest high in a grevillia tree, but it was destroyed in one of our winter storms. Her second nest was lower in a protected area and her two youngsters fledged on April 14, 2008. Here you can see one sitting on the edge of the nest and the slightly older one sitting about six inches from the nest. They both fluttered their wings furiously, exercising their flight muscles, buzzing a few inches at a time.

In the second picture the younger fledgling has its wings spread wide as it tries to learn to fly.

Mom kept returning all day to feed them and offer support. The older youngster flew off by midday and between 5 and 6 PM the younger one took flight as well. Yesterday, the two new kids were quite noticeable as D took them to visit the various feeders in the yard. There was quite a flutter when A’s youngsters realized there were two new hungry beaks at the feeder.

Today the fledglings are pretty much on their own. You can see them exploring different plants in the yard, trying to get the hang of what has nectar and what does not.

Meanwhile, just two days after her job with one brood of youngsters is done, D is building a new nest to start the process all over again. She has moved to a small ficus bush and started the nest‘s button foundation. She will continue to build it up with plant and animal fibers, spider webbing and bits of different materials.

What about C and F ? C’s youngsters should fledge in the next 4 to 5 days. And then there is F. I’m not sure what is going on in her nest. It’s a mystery. There were hatchlings, but they never seemed to get bigger. She’s still on the nest. Stay tuned, we’ll solve it.

Great Backyard Bird Count - L.A. Zoo

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count !

Across North America, citizens are playing a vital role for science by counting wild birds like this California towhee.

Why is this important?

Bird counts turned in to the Great Backyard Bird Count website will create a snapshot of bird populations across the continent.

The Great Backyard Bird Count continues Feb. 15 -18.

You can participate by counting birds in your backyard, on a walk through your neighborhood, in a local park or wildlife area. See the website http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ for easy instructions. Be a Citizen Scientist and help count birds in your area.

When and where are birds nesting? If you have a nest that you are watching, NestWatch wants YOU ! You can enter your information about a bird nest at www.nestwatch.org.

This morning Docents and Zoo members at the Los Angeles Zoo counted 42 species of wild birds on the Zoo grounds for Great Backyard Bird Count and spotted an Anna's hummingbird already nesting, as well as red-shouldered hawks and black phoebe's preparing nests. (hummingbird nest 2007)

Bird List from Los Angeles Zoo, 2/16/08

1. Mallard - 18
2. Great Egret - 1
3. Turkey Vulture - 2
4. Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
5. Cooper's Hawk - 1
6. Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
7. Red-tailed Hawk - 3
8. Ring-billed Gull - 1
9. Band-tailed Pigeon - 2
10. Mourning Dove - 4
11. Yellow-chevroned Parakeet - 6
12. Anna's Hummingbird - 4
13. Allen's Hummingbird - 4
14. Acorn Woodpecker - 1
15. Red-breasted Sapsucker - 1
16. Nuttall's Woodpecker - 2
17. Black Phoebe - 6
18. Cassin's Kingbird - 2
19. Common Raven - 4
20. Bushtit - 8
21. Bewick's Wren - 1
22. Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
23. Hermit Thrush - 3
24. Swainson's Thrush -1
25. American Robin - 6
26. Northern Mockingbird - 2
27. European Starling - 10
28. Cedar Waxwing - 30
29. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) - 8
30. Spotted Towhee - 1
31. California Towhee - 6
32. Fox Sparrow (Sooty) - 2
33. Song Sparrow - 19
34. Lincoln's Sparrow - 1
35. White-crowned Sparrow - 4
36. Dark-eyed Junco - 7
37. Red-winged Blackbird - 30
38. Brewer's Blackbird - 45
39. House Finch - 45
40. Lesser Goldfinch - 25
41. American Goldfinch - 12
42. House Sparrow - 4

Download a pdf of my L.A. Zoo Bird List