Yikes my elderly neighbor called me to rescue a baby bird out of his blistering hot yard an certain death when one of the neighbor hood cats decided to make him a snack.

Having a large parakeet cage I got a little seed from a neighbor and have been feeding hummingbird nectar out of an eye dropper evey two hours. He seems lively and vocal so far and not resisting snuggleing in my hands which surprises me.

Any one have more experience with birds? This looks like some kind of chicadee maybe?

Call a pet store or vet they can help you.

I would have let the kitty get him, that's nature. But, if you insist on intervening, I think Giggle is correct, take it to the vet and see what can be done.

First of all what kind of bird is it? It is important to make sure it gets the right diet because Calcium deficiency is the NUMBER ONE issue in raising birds. I have raised starlings, pigeons, sparrows, and helped in raising Chickens, parakeets, and conure parrots. All of these are grain eaters except starlings which eat both seeds and bugs. In know of a person my brother goes Falcon with and if the bird you have is a Raptor you would be FAR better off handing it over to a professional licensed falconer. These are far more work than any average person can handle and there also is the threat of your bird lacerating you BADLY if you are not careful with it. Bluejays are very similar to Starlings in raising. So are Catbirds. These mostly eat bugs and bread is a very bad idea to feed them. If it has a long beak and long legs it is more likely a bug eater. Short beak and long legs a small seed eater. A medium beak and short legs, a mixed (omnivorous) eater. Usually baby raptors are clearly hawk like. Peregrine though are tiny when young.

With seed eaters feeding young birds is tricky. THE SEEDS MUST BE SHELLED OR YOU COULD KILL THE BABY BIRD! they also need a mixture. Taking shelled sunflower seeds, adding a small amount of sesame seeds and other bread grain seeds including a small amount grind them up into the consistency of ground pepper. use a drop of water to make a paste out of it and use a tiny spoon to feed the bird (Literally something the size of a coke spoon). Make sure to get water to the baby bird too AND ONLY LUKE WARM WATER AT THAT! NO COLD WATER! Likewise add a tiny amount of calcium supplement to each feeding but only a tiny amount. When it fledges add a little gravel to its mix but shortly it will be feeding on its own in about a month or two for small birds. A couple of months for medium birds and a little longer for large to huge.
Baby bug eaters and Omnivorous birds are easy. A little fruit, a little greens, some meal worms and crickets mixed into a paste and away you go. Same thing with the calcium supplements. Eventually these birds will pluck food from your fingers given the chance.

And with all baby birds, they feed every two hours sun and moon until they are fully fledged! Then they are just ravenous. When they fly they will forage for themselves. But most of these birds will not leave the area you raise them in. I had a sparrow that would not go away until it mated. Even then it still stayed in the area. It would surprise the hell out of me when it would land on my shoulder every now and then.

This reminds me of the time I rescued three mockingbird eggs from an abandoned nest. One of the eggs wasn't even fertilized, so I kept only the two of them. I used stuff from around the house to make my own incubator, and luckily my dad had a laser thermometer which I used to make sure the temperature was always perfect. The incubator actually worked and they hatched (: But unfortunately they died a week later. one died from being weak, and the other died from food backing up and blocking the airway. The first time it happened, I quickly got a tissue and cleared the airway. But the second time it happened during my sleep and I wasn't there to save it :\

Over feeding is also a bad problem. You need to remember this is a tiny creature and proportionally only requires maybe three or four grains of rice (in size) in amount each feeding with baby Sparrows. Mocking or Catbirds likewise only need about a 1/4 square inch (6mm sq) of food if that each feeding when they are hatchlings. It is best to leave them just a touch hungry with each feeding. It helps cut down on regurgitation. Too bad your Mockingbirds didn't make it. They are super smart for a bird. I love it when they dive bomb cats and crows!

Another thing they need is copious hydration. With each feeding make sure it gets water a few minuets after it is fed. I know some experts prefer to actually water before feeding which makes sense to me. And one thing baby birds need is some physical contact too. They stress like hell when hungry and alone. They make needy children seem independent. the Starling I raised went bezerk when it heard me coming but was silent as death when I was gone. It made a particular squalling sound when it was hungry which was all the time. When it was fed it balled up in its nest. Those are not too bright for a bird. My Sparrow was smarter and cooler. A good beginner bird is a pigeon! Those are easy to raise. And if treated properly they ALWAYS come back.

Yeah, fed them about that amount through a very small syringe, but perhaps I fed more often than I should of, I'm not sure. I fed them around every half hour, and stayed with them constantly. Rather than feeding them water separately, I put water in the food, which I read online that it's actually better and safer to do that.
After the mockingbirds died I was so disappointed, so I got a green-rumped parrotlet and named him Kiwi (: I had him for a year now. He knows how to say his name haha.

Haha there was this one time we had a mockingbird nest in our crab apple tree in the front of the house, and anytime we tried to cross to go to the car, it would dive bomb us xD

I want to share pictures of the baby mockingbirds. Do I need to use an image code to make it show up?

You have to upload your photos first to a site like Photobucket, then you can use the code to post it here.

Yep, overfeeding. The shortest interval of feeding is hummingbirds. Normally every hour to two hours is sufficient for most small bird species.


Have you finger trained Kiwi? Finger trainging is an art of patience with birds that are not hand raised.

Oh :\ I fed them around every half hour since I read that baby mockingbirds should be fed every 20 minutes to a half hour.
I bought Kiwi from a very reputable breeder, so he was already finger trained. He's very sweet (:

The rule of thumb with most reptiles is to keep them a little hungry. Unfortunately that also makes them very aggressive. This can be bad with a lizard capable of reaching five or six feet long. A lot of people are under the impression you can starve fish to keep them smaller and pollute the tank less. That belief is absolutely preposterous since most of the successful tank keepers feed twice a day. Even expert opinions on bird maintenance varies from expert to expert. One sad possibility I overlooked is the bird may have contracted an illness as well. Usually though there are signs before any disease really hits home. I learned though trial and error with questions of professionals and hobbyists. More often than not the hobbyists were right. Not a lot of people dedicate themselves even partially to nature conservation. You gave it a good try and if the chance comes along again you might fare much better especially since your Kiwii is a good learing aid to the proper care of birds.


You are not letting Kiwi pick up any bad words are you?

Google wildlife rehab centers in your area and take it to them.

Don't screw around with it if it is a hummer, the store bought nectar is not really good for it and a wildlife rehab center can take good care of em. They know what they're doing!

I think you are asking the wrong people, and need to let people who are experienced at this help you.

I don't know how wildlife rescues work in other areas but in my area you can't just bring them anything because they will kill it. For example, my friend found a 1 week old squirrel. She's taking care of it because most rescues around here will kill it. Same with birds with broken legs/wings. I've seen her take care of and release many birds -- mostly sparrows and robins and as young as a few days old. We've always fed them canned cat food until they were big enough to fly. I've never seen an issue.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the input.

I think the fall must have hurt the little thing. Squawked until I offered my hands cupped and then just pretty much snuggled down and withered a couple hours after I posted.

Cried like a baby and put it in one of Dad's little boxes he built for everything and burried it at the foot of one of the angels in my garden.

Know it is the circle of life but seems sad.

Nature can be as cruel as she is nurturing. @>-->----