How to help an injured bird

During their first flights, not all birds make it through. A lot of them end up on the ground..injured and helpless. If you find one such bird lying injured on the ground, the best thing is to call a wildlife rehabilitation centre. But if that doesn't work for you (as it did in my case), you need to know what can you do on your own:

1. Get a shoebox or a container and cut some holes in it for air to pass through.

2. Fill in some newspaper or thick paper towel for the base.

You can also add some leaves and/or a soft cloth

3. Put some water and bird food in the box and sprinkle some seeds around.

I put some Pearl Millet (Bajra) and Oatmeal (Daliya)

4. Here lies the tricky part : Gently pick the bird and put it in the box.

DO NOT listen to those old tales people say about how if you touch a bird, its parents will reject it. Its not true at all. I needed to hold the baby bird to feed it and take care of it. And the parents did not reject it afterwards. Birds recognize their babies from their chirps and cries, and not by their smell.

5. Feeding the bird

If the bird is an adult, it will be able to eat the seeds or drink water on its own, if it's a baby and cannot eat/drink on its own, you should feed some water by a medicine dropper/eye dropper.

That's how I feed this little one

6. Place the box near where you found the bird and there's high chance that its parents will be able to find it. I put the box outside in my balcony and stepped away to observe. Within 30 seconds, its parents recognized its chirps and responded by chirping loudly..swooped down and fed the seeds I had kept in the box, to the baby bird.

One of the other birdies that I found injured in my balcony some years back. Named it 'Ginni' :)

I'll take care of it till its able to fly again. Until then, do recommend some name for this little baby. :)