Baby balckbird in garden Advice needed NOW!

[LynetteScavo]

It's hopping about, and not old enough to fly.What can I do to help it? I'm pretty sure a cat will be along soon.

I'm tempted to say leave it as the touch of human hands will stop it's mum coming back for it. Keep the cats away if poss. If it's still there later call RSPCA or RSPB for advice.

The best thing you can do is leave it alone. The parents will be watching it from somewhere and if you interfere they may abandon it.

The parents will look after it as well as they can, but it will have to take its chances with the cats until it can fly.

Thankyou. It's gone into a bush, and is chiroing alot. Can it's mum get it back, if it can't fly?

i think u r meant to leave them alone, and let the mother bird find it and feed it etc. im sure if u touch it the mother will reject it as it smells of u and possibly even kill it.im not an expert though mayb try ringing rspca for advice

Call RSPB - they are great. They helped us when one of our cats brought a baby blackbird in.

Smell will not affect the mother bird with it, but human presence persisting in monitoring the baby will so make sure you do not spend too much time out there. Blackbirds often do this and unless it is obviously injured it is best to leave it alone.

Thankyou everybody...2yo DD was able to go up to it and momentarily touch it's head without causing it distress. So unusual to interact with a wild creature like this. We had to leave to go on school run/ swimming and all was quite when we returned to either a happy ending or a sad one... I supose I'll nver know.

Blackbirds Turdis vulgaris are terrible parents, something like 85% death rate among their young. Young leave the nest as soon as possible, dad looks after the brood while mum starts a new brood elsewhere (to be abandonned as quickly as the first lot).

LOL @ Turdis valgaris!

When i was 11yrs old i found a blackbird chick and took it home (this was in the early 1980's) and kept it in a box with tissue paper.
Fed it with cat food and soon it was flying around my bedroom (you can imagine the mess).
My Mum made me let it go when she found out.
This was over 4 weeks later, she just assumed the chirping was coming from outside. I was a naughty child