Tried to help fledgling robin - what did I do wrong? (1 Viewer)

[MP_Maple]

Hi all,

So I joined the forum just to ask a few questions about an attempt I made to help a fledgling robin last night.

I found him/her in a bucket near my garage that was full of water, the robin was chest deep and crying out like crazy...I assume for mom. I decided to immediately remove the bird from the water and leave it in the general area in hopes the parents would return.

I waited 2 hours with no sign of adults. At this point, I fed it a few small earthworms which were happily scarfed down. An hour later, as it was getting dark, I decided to fashion a quick nest out of a hanging planter and placed the robin inside the 'nest' and hung the nest about 4 feet off the ground.

I fed it two more small worm pieces, and it seemed content to remain in the nest. I last checked on it at about 11 pm and it was sleeping...I assumed all was well.

This morning I woke and immediately checked on my new friend and he was dead. I was kind of heartbroken...I thought I would be able to help this little bird.

I'm wondering what could have gone wrong. It didn't get too cold last night, but did the fledgling need to be kept warmer and exposure was the culprit?

Maybe it was injured already from falling? I didn't notice any nests near by, but I have many very tall trees around, so maybe it fell quite a distnace? I thought Robin's nest rather close to the ground, but maybe I'm wrong.

Could I have overfed it? It seemed to be constantly begging for food whenever I got near. Or was it the opposite and it needed to be fed throughout the night?

Here is a picture to show the size/age. https://i.imgur.com/jplwgpm.png

I feel awful and would like to know if I did anything that doomed the poor thing...

 

[delia todd]

Hi MP_Maple and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't succeed with raising this wee one. You did your best, but even trained wild-life rehabbers lose many of the chicks they try to rescue. It's an extremely difficult job.

He does look as if he was ready to fledge, so wouldn't have been brooded over night I don't think. We have some general guidelines here for the care of injured and baby birds, which you might find useful for the future.

Don't beat yourself up - you tried!!

I hope you enjoy your time here with us.

 

[MP_Maple]

Thank you, delia, for both the welcome and the advice. I have been beating myself up a little bit, as it seemed old/healthy enough to have survived minus an error on my part. I'm a softie when it comes to wildlife...

I'll digest those guidelines as I'm sure this will occur again. This is my first summer on my new property, and it's 5 acres of wooded bird sanctuary!

Amazing how mother nature can get these fragile little creatures to adulthood, but us, with all of our access to knowledge and resources fail...

At least now I'm a member here, so I'll have a great place to seek guidance the next time.

Thank you again!

 

[KC Foggin]

A big pat on you back for doing as much as you could do for this poor fledgling and I'm sorry it did not work out.

It is possible that sometimes the parent birds will somehow know if a bird is not going to last and then they ignore it. Who knows. What counts is that you did your best.

A warm welcome to you from me in Myrtle Beach :t: Hope we see more of you here.

 

[Par Avion]

Hi, MP_Maple! Since you found the fledgling without parents or other siblings around, there is no telling how long it had been wandering on its own. If something happened and the parents were not present to care for it, it may not have eaten for a long time which would have weakened it considerably. I have read that a nestling can only go without food for 24 hours. There may have been nothing you could have done short of taking it to an avian rehab center, and as delia said even they might have had a hard time saving it. If the baby was dehydrated, it would not have been able to digest the food properly.

To answer your question: based on my experience from observing the nests in my yard, the nestlings are not fed at night. American Robins are not nocturnal, as far as I am aware...

You are also right in saying that it could have fallen from a distance. We currently have an American Robin's nest in a tree swaying on one of the limbs about 30 feet up.

There are many factors that could have caused the demise of this little fledgling. In it's last hours, however, you were there to provide it with the caring touch of a parent, which probably comforted it.

 

[MP_Maple]

Thank to you both for the information and words of encouragement!