Wildlife Clinic
Found an animal?

Your answer

This bird needs to go back in the nest, or to a rehabilitator.

A nestling cannot regulate its own temperature and cannot survive on the ground. If you can find the nest and reach it safely, replacing the bird is the best outcome available — birds do not reject young that have been handled. If the nest is destroyed or unreachable, this is a genuine rescue.

What to do right now

  1. 01Look up. Nests are usually within a few feet of where the bird landed.
  2. 02Warm your hands, cup the bird, and place it back in the nest.
  3. 03If the nest is gone, punch drainage holes in a small container, line it with dry tissue, wire it to the same tree in shade, and put the bird in it.
  4. 04Watch from a distance for an hour. If no adult comes, call a rehabilitator.
  5. 05While you wait, keep the bird warm, dark, and quiet in a ventilated box.

What not to do

  • Do not give food or water. Aspiration is the usual cause of death in well-meaning hands.
  • Do not use a heat pad on high, or a lamp directly on the bird.
  • Do not keep it more than a few hours.

Change your mind if any of this is true

Any one of these changes the answer above. Call a rehabilitator instead.

  • It is cold, wet, or has insects on it — go straight to a rehabilitator.
  • A cat or dog was involved.
  • It is gaping and calling constantly, which means it has been unfed for a long time.

Get professional help

Tell us where you are — your state, then your county — and we will list the people licensed to take it there, nearest to you first. Rehabilitators are licensed by their own state, which is why we ask.

Understand the animal

Knowing why this happens is what makes the next one easier to read.