This page provides problem-solving advice and ways to make your yard and home less attractive to songbirds in the first place.
For more information on different birds, including what they eat and where they live in the forest preserves, visit the main birds page.
It’s always best for parents to raise their young in the natural environment. Unlike humans, songbirds and other young wild animals are not constantly supervised by their parents. They spend much of their time alone or with siblings. Because they learn how to find food and shelter and recognize and avoid predators from their parents, people should leave them alone when possible.
If you find a nestling on the ground, find the nest and place it inside. Birds have a poor sense of smell, so adults will not abandon their young if you touch them.
If you find a bird on the ground with most of its feathers that looks healthy but is unable to fly, leave it alone and watch from a distance for its parents. It's a fledgling, an older bird that can't fly but can perch and hop around. If you must move it, place it in a bush or low tree a few feet from where you found it. Do not move it from general area; the parents are most likely watching nearby.
Depending on the species, fledglings live on the ground for about two weeks. While they’re learning to fly, their parents feed and care for them and teach them how to protect themselves from predators. During this time, the parents may swoop by or squawk at people and animals that get too close.
Far from abandoned, these nestling cardinals are waiting for their parents to return with food. Image by Gerald Carter/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Fledglings such as this American robin can spend up to two weeks on low branches and on the ground before they learn to fly. Image by Dan Dzurisin/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
If the nest is too high or cannot be found, you can make a replacement out of a hanging planter or plastic container. Here’s how!
Birds fly into windows for several reasons. They may see a reflection of the landscape, or they may see their own reflections and initiate territorial battles, which usually means nests are nearby. Millions die each year during migration alone, but there are ways you can help lower the number.
Young birds can become dependent on a feeder if it’s the only food they learn to use, so put feeders away April through October when natural foods are plentiful. Instead, plant flowers, shrubs and trees that produce seeds or fruits.
If you use a feeder, clean it regularly. Diseases such as house finch conjunctivitis, salmonellosis, aspergillosis, avian pox and avian trichomoniasis spread easily from bird to bird at feeders, and some can be fatal. Here’s how to properly clean one.
Each year, free-roaming cats — domestic as well as feral — kill millions of wild birds nationwide. Even declawed and well-fed cats are instinctively proficient hunters, so always keep cats indoors.
All native birds, a category that includes native songbirds, are protected by the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It is illegal to:
The law does not protect nonnative pigeons (rock doves), English house sparrows or European starlings.
Birds in DuPage County can carry West Nile virus, but people who acquire the virus do so after being bitten by an infected mosquito and not by coming in contact with an infected bird.
If You Find a Baby Bird
How to Replace a Nest
Flying Into Windows
Feeders
Cats & Songbirds
How to Make Your Home Less Attractive
What You Should Never Do
Public Health Concerns
If you find a wild animal that looks injured or orphaned, leave it alone and call the Forest Preserve District's Willowbrook Wildlife Center at 630-942-6200. Recordings offer general advice when the center is closed.
Or visit the wildlife rescue advice page.
More About
Birds
Fish
Frogs, Turtles, Snakes & More
Insects, Spiders, Crayfish & More
Mammals
Mussels & Snails
Living With Wildlife
Bats
Beavers
Chipmunks & Ground Squirrels
Coyotes
Eastern Cottontails
Mallards & Geese
Opossums
Raccoons
Skunks
Tree Squirrels
White-Tailed Deer
Woodchucks
Woodpeckers
Banner image by Mick Thompson/CC BY-NC 2.0
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