Baby Wrens jumped out of nest (1 Viewer)

[gilessteve]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can give me information on something that happened in my garden yesterday.

I have an outbuilding that has some nesting boxes attached.

Walking past, I noticed that four baby wrens (I think that's what they were) had jumped from the nest and were dead on the ground beneath. A fifth was about to jump out of the nest, so I put a chair with a padded bag below where it was about to jump to break the fall somewhat.

Several minutes later I noticed it had jumped, and appeared to be unhurt. To cut a long story short, I tried to help it but it died about four hours later.

Could anyone tell me why the young birds would have left the nest like that? They were much too young to fly, and basically had no chance of survival outside the nest. The parents were nowhere to be seen. I wasn't even aware there were nesting birds there until this happened.

The whole episode was quite disturbing to say the least. I feel bad that I was unable to save the one that I found alive.

Thankyou

Steve

 

[mary99]

Hi Steve,

There is a sticky near the top of the forum with advice on what to do if you find a baby bird, may help next time.

Sorry it didn't work out this time.

Mary

PS welcome to the forum

 

[fugl]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can give me information on something that happened in my garden yesterday.

I have an outbuilding that has some nesting boxes attached.

Walking past, I noticed that four baby wrens (I think that's what they were) had jumped from the nest and were dead on the ground beneath. A fifth was about to jump out of the nest, so I put a chair with a padded bag below where it was about to jump to break the fall somewhat.

Several minutes later I noticed it had jumped, and appeared to be unhurt. To cut a long story short, I tried to help it but it died about four hours later.

Could anyone tell me why the young birds would have left the nest like that? They were much too young to fly, and basically had no chance of survival outside the nest. The parents were nowhere to be seen. I wasn't even aware there were nesting birds there until this happened.

The whole episode was quite disturbing to say the least. I feel bad that I was unable to save the one that I found alive.

Hard to know what causes such things. Many small birds leave the nest before they can fly or take care of themselves and are tended by their parents out of the nest until they’re able to survive on their own. Perhaps that’s what started to happen here, but with the parents unable to play their part for some reason (predated maybe or come to grief in some other way?). Alternatively, maybe there’s something in the nest--biting lice or other vermin--driving the nestlings out. But whatever the cause, sad to witness as these things always are.

 

[gilessteve]

Thanks for the replies.

I don't think I'll get to the bottom of this, unless someone has witnessed this particular behaviour before. The young birds were much too young to survive outside the nest, so it's unlikely that this was in any way normal behaviour.

I suppose the presence of parasites or pests in the nest could be a cause, but doesn't really explain the absence of the parents.

Regards

Steve