UKC

My daughter has just saved a baby jackdaw from a road. She thought it was injured, but turns out to be a fledged jackdaw. Wings seem ok, but it can't take off yet. It is now sat happily under my hedge. Apparently there were no other jackdaws around.
Do I a) return it as closely to where it was found?
B) leave it in my relatively safe garden where there are a lot of jackdaws locally, and feed it meal worms and water?
Thoughts gratefully accepted

In reply to Dave the Rave:

Jackdaws can recognise themselves in mirrors and use tools to an extent that rivals chimpanzees. I would recommend raising him as your own and train him to respond to a sequence of whistles and clicks. In a few years you could have him retrieving dropped belay plates and flying them back up to you mid climb. You could also tie sos messages to his leg to call the mountain rescue in areas with poor phone signal.

In reply to Dave the Rave:

Obviously follow the above post first but if that fails heres my thoughts. Sounds like it fell out of its nest in which case it's parents have abandoned it in all likelihood. Leaving it on the floor isn't going to do it any favours in fact it's cat food. If you're feeling particularly committed then nursing it till it can fly is probably the best hope for it.

In reply to Dave the Rave:
I think the RSPB advice is to leave fledglings alone. The parent(s) often know where they are and feed them. If you move them, that link is gone.

EDIT link: http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/3070/t/16193.aspx

In reply to lowersharpnose:



Thanks for that. I had a quick look on RSPB site. I'm going to have a quick scan where she found it and if there's no obvious jackdaw life, then I will give it the freedom of the garden, feed/water it and ask it to go in the shed overnight

In reply to Dave the Rave:

I found a fledged Stellar's Jay in my garden. I phoned the local bird rescue people. I was told the parents toss the young 'uns out then watch out for them. They shuffle them to the undergrowth at night.

In reply to ACollins: and uninformed answers like that are exactly why rescues and vet surgeries across the country are inundated with healthy fledgelings every year. Young birds leave the nest and hang out on and around the ground. It's what they do. Follow the RSPCA advice of only moving it out of direct danger and leave it near where it was found in a hedge or bush.

In reply to loose overhang:
I've never heard of a stellars Jay?
Just back from walking the dog, and the bird has fledged itself out of our garden
It seemed in good health and accepted woodlice and freshly dug worms.
Result. Now any jackdaw that flies over is Jack the Jackdaw to our kid

In reply to ceri:

Apologies if I've misinformed the information was what I've always been taught. However looking at your profile it seems I've been told wrong.

In reply to Dave the Rave:

Find another three and twenty and bake them in a pie.

Id imagine it'd make a good pet till it grows up and flies off to find a mate

In reply to Pesda potato:
It was the quickest and cheapest pet we have ever had

In reply to ceri:

What if the hedge or bush was near a road? With a big hole in it , and an Owl?
That chick wouldn't have been safe, WITH AN OWL!

In reply to ceri:

Bit harsh that, ceri.

I've got a few young birds on the go, including a jackdaw called Derek. He's doing fine, and we're introducing him to the local jackdaws, who now turn up and sit around on the wires when he's out in the back garden. Once his flying gets a bit better, they'll probably take him on.

We do get quite a few healthy fledglings in the surgery (we rear for the local RSPCA centre as well), with a large number of blackbird chicks, which look like young thrushes. They get turned out of the nest a couple of weeks earlier than would be expected, and then spend their time living in the undergrowth and learning to feed, accompanied by a parent. These are probably the young birds most commonly judged to be abandoned.

Derek supposedly fell down the chimney, but as he's hands-down the most annoying bird I've ever reared, I'm pretty sure his parents threw him out of the nest.

In reply to Dave the Rave:

They make interesting pets.

In reply to ACollins:
OK, as Martin points out, I may have sounded a bit harsh and therefore apologise. Just bored of spending my weekends as a vet receptionist explaining to people on the phone that just because there is a young bird in their garden they don't need to bring it to the emergency vets and then finding places at the already stretched local rescues for the ones they decide to bring down anyway...
Glad Jack flew off and it sounds like Martin is the chap to look after your birds if you find any more: We can call him bird man :p

In reply to ceri:

Don't worry about it! More harsh comments have been made on UKC