Do you want to see a baby goldfinch

[SherryBaby11]

I was out walking my dog yesterday and saw it struggling in the weeds trying to hide from me. Far too young to be out of the nest, suspect a cat disturbed it or something. Picked it up and it just snuggled up into my hand.
It was SO cute!
I've taken it to an elderly lady I know who rescues/rehabilitates injured or sick wildlife, she thinks it'll be okay :)

Lovely! Happy to hear it stands a decent chance too!

Awww thanks for rescuing it

Thank you for rescuing it!

it is extremely cute. And I love the feeling of a little bird perched on your finger - we had a robin trapped in our house and at one point it sat on my finger. Lovely!

Good luck to the little finch Glad you helped it

😍😍

Thank you all. @Scautish yes it is such a lovely feeling isn't it. It just felt like a little ball of fluff while I carried it home. Bit precarious though, tiny delicate bird in one hand and dog lead with my huge blundering dog on the end in the other. I always try to do my bit, I do like cats but they're a bliddy menace sometimes.

Ah very cute 🥰

We have baby birds of similar ages left hidden in our garden by the parents for some time while the parents fly off for food. They can appear abandoned but the parents come back for them later. It is usually better to leave young wildlife where it is. Another example of this is with fawns - baby deer can be left hidden in woods and the countryside. It's one of the reasons dogs need to be on leads during the nesting/breeding season.

This - never ever move them. Sorry you might have thought you were doing the right thing but the parents would have been there 100% so their baby is gone now

What a sweetie - both bird and rescuer. Good on you. Hope he/she gets released where you found her/him when fledged. Lovely to see.

Yes the RSPB say not to move them, an adult will always be nearby. I’m picturing the poor mother wondering where her baby has gone 😭

This. My gardens a bird haven, I’ve got blackbird, robins and doves in my garden hopping round in/under my hedge that look far younger than this. They’re nowhere close to flying yet and they’re out of the nest.I pretty much guarantee that mum and dad were nearby and you’ve just taken it away from them :/

Sorry OP but PPs are right.
Unless injured or in immediate danger (approaching car or on a road) fledglings shouldn't be moved. Mum would likely have been back soon.

Not saying this to be negative as you were obviously trying to help, but it's important people know this.

That bird looks the right age to be out of the nests. They pretty much all spend time on the ground whilst learning to fly. You should have left it.

He is adorable, but you should leave them where they are.

I found one on a busy path yesterday, in a precarious position. Three dogs were too busy greeting each other to realise there was a fascinating ball of fluff near their feet.

I picked it up and popped it in the hedge next to the path, where some frantic parents were whistling away. It went very quiet, bar the rustling as they scuttled to each other.

If you need to move a young bird out of harm's way, just pop it in a nearby shrub.

If you find a baby bird on the floor it only (potentially) needs help if it’s bald/still only has fluff rather than feathers as it can’t regulate its temperature. The one in your picture looks fully feathered, it’s old enough to venture out of the nest on its own. There is a transition stage from being completely helpless/vulnerable in the nest to being a completely independent adult. Is there anyway you can put it back where you found it?

Crows btw kick their young out the next before they can fly. Its safer for them, or they get picked off by larger birds.

The parent feeds them on the ground instead.

Yes, I'm sure OP believed she was doing the right thing.

It was normal behaviour too for the baby bird to try to hide, as they will have been taught by their parents to do so, to see humans and dogs as predators. Some go on to lose the fear of humans later, for example if they associate them with being fed seed in a garden.

It is too late now unfortunately to return this baby bird to the same place and the expert care of its parents.

This week alone, we have fledgling wrens, sparrows, finches, tits and blackbirds being 'abandoned' in our garden. They are old enough to leave the nest but are not yet fully grown and are being cared for and fed by their parents.

Fledglings are around a lot now - please leave them alone and keep dogs and cats away.

It's not too late to put this bird back. The parents will return to look for it for quite some time. This old lady - is she actually an experienced wildlife rescue person? Just from the photo, that bird looks fine to be out of the nest (they can only hop not fly much at first). Why did she think it needed to stay with her? Is it injured?

oh, yesterday! sorry, yes it may be too late now.

It might not be too late. When I had to nurse an injured baby starling for 2 days I was told by the rspb that the parents will generally stay within a mile radius of where their baby was, and to put it out in a shallow box it can get out of on its own and see if the parents come back for it. Within 2 hours they’d found their baby :)

Blackbirds especially kick their young out very early and feed them on the ground. If you're really concerned try building a very rough shelter from a bit of wood.

My first thought was this lady’s an idiot, definitely not an expert. She’s just taken it in because it’s cute and she wanted it, rather than tell the op to put it back like an actual wildlife expert would.

Perhaps then, given that the OP has (unintentionally) done the wrong thing, and the fledgling, even if it survives with the person OP has taken it to, will lose out on the expert care and teaching of its parents, OP should take it back - if she can do this to exactly the same place, ideally VERY early in the morning, waits to make sure the parents do come back and without taking her dog or handling the fledgling any more than absolutely necessary.