Fledglings:
Species Large and Small -
It's All the Same

This could be called a study in contrast, but the outcome is the same. I had a Carolina wren couple nesting in my garage this spring. They decided to take advantage of an unused purple martin house, which resides on the top of the refrigerator in the garage. This garage never houses a car, of course, but it is the nighttime sleeping quarters for my two dogs. This has never been a deterrent - this is not the first time that wrens have nested in the garage. When I know that nesting is going on, I do open one of the windows from the top, so that the birds can get in and out if they are up earlier in the morning than I am.

Anyway, I arrived home one day around noon, to find fledgling wrens all over the walls of the garage. There were five of them, and they couldn't figure out how to get outside. The parents were screaming and flying around madly. So I got a net, and one by one, captured the little ones (and I mean little). They could barely fly, and were really just hopping. I stuck each one out the window, and watched as it made its way into the lower branches of the shrubs in front of the house. The parents continued calling them, and urging them to move further away from the house. This scene went on for several hours, and by late afternoon it quieted down. I assume they all made it to safety, and were flying well in a few days. There seemed to be a lot of wrens around over the next week, so I think my assumption was correct.

A few days later, around 4:00 pm, I got a call from Great Falls Animal Hospital, saying that they had just received a young red shouldered hawk that seemed to be in good shape, and would I please come over and get it. I was fairly swamped with birds at the time, so I called Roy, and asked if he would be interested in this case. It did sound like a fledgling bird, and he said he would see about getting it back to its parents. It had come from someone in Great Falls (Virginia), so I gave him her number, as well as the number at the animal hospital. I was so grateful that on a Friday night, after work, he would be willing to take this case on.

He called me around 9:00 pm that night with the report. When he talked to the lady about the bird she had retrieved, she said that actually, there seemed to be another one out in her yard. She had a yard that was fenced in for her dogs, and was concerned about one of the canines getting this hawk. When Roy arrived, he discovered a third juvenile stuck in the briars growing on the fence. He managed to extricate this third one. Then he placed the third one and the second one on branches in a tree outside the fenced area. When the third one squawked in protest upon being handled, the two parents came flying in, screaming. All was well. Roy then went over to the animal hospital, checked out the perfectly fine first bird, and returned to the site. Hawks were everywhere, and the first bird was reunited with its siblings and parents. The owner of the property said that she would monitor the area over the weekend, and call Roy if needed. Since he heard nothing further, the hope is that the bird managed just fine.

I guess you get the point here - whether you are dealing with a tiny wren which is about an inch long, or a red shouldered hawk which has a wing span of about 3 feet, it is the same deal. If the fledgling is in good health, has no injuries, the parents are around, and the basic situation is appropriate, that bird needs to be put back out there for the parents to handle. Granted, there are often situations which make this scenario impossible, but it is most definitely worth a try. In the case of hawks, it is obviously important to have a knowledgeable person perform the task, and I feel fortunate that Roy was available that day.

Fledglings are fledglings are fledglings. The instinct of the parents to care for their young is so strong, that they will try their best to do their job if we will let them. So keep the faith everyone - putting them back out there does work!