Fledgling House Sparrow Getting Fed
By Corey • June 4, 2008 • 9 commentsThe title of this post pretty much says it all. A couple of weeks ago I watched and photographed a young House Sparrow getting fed by its mother. I also watched, but failed to get pictures of, the same young bird being fed by two different male House Sparrows. These particular birds were in Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, but the same story is taking place all over the world right now, as few species have successfully adapted to as many locations as the House Sparrow. Enjoy!
Though they are an invasive species here in North America they can still be pretty darn cute. And to make up for all the cuteness lately, here’s a link to Charlie’s wonderful post on a feeding Black Kite.
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WOW! So cute, and great picts!
Oh how I love them. A house is not a home unless there are a bunch of “sparrers” squabbling over the dust bath on the pavement outside.
Do you know, of all the birds that come into my garden, I love the friendliness of the sparrows. I love to take a few minutes, when I can, to just stop and watch them.
@Pam: Thanks!
@Bird: I guess my entire neighborhood (and city) is a home!
@Jeanie: I do like to hear them chirping away all day.
i got one of these as a fledge, from the cats mouth, it is in good shape, but too young to fly, i guess yesterdays wind gusts knocked him out of his tree. i put him in the bird cage with a bowl of water, a bowl with grit, and a bowl of bird seed i ground to a meal with the back of my kitchen knife. i rescued a jay a fewq years back, but i just put him in a box and nailed it to a tree, his parents where looking for him and they came for him within an hour he jumped out of the box and who knows what happened. this guy has got nobody crying for him and i wonder if i am giving him half a chance. should i be catching worms, chewing them up and spitting them in his mouth, or is ground up pigean seed good enough? he seems scared but when i held him in my hand and stroked the back of his head his eyes closed and he seemed to relax. my neighbor did that and the fledge opened his mouth, seeming to want to eat, but he lives with the cat, so this sparrow thingy is in my charge. he is a week or 2 from really fledging, i think. what can i do to help him?
look i don’t really care about wildlife much, but if you have an answer for this little guy, he’d appreciate your help, i’m sure.
@yes cute but, It seems unlikely that high winds would have driven a young House Sparrow out of its nest, as they tend to be cavity nesters. Are you certain the bird can’t fly? If it can’t, a varied diet is always better: if you can’t get insect/worm-type protein then raw hamburger can be used instead. No need to regurgitate worms: if the bird is old enough to survive out of the nest it can manage to digest worm chunks. Good luck, and I would recommend letting the bird go as soon as it seems feasible.
Hi, I work at a courthouse and yesterday we found a young sparrow on the steps. Someone I work with said it would die if I didn’t take it home and I believed them. I called a bird rescue my vet suggested but they never called back. I looked up what to feed it but it would only lick at the food, it wouldn’t really open it’s mouth. I read many times last night that I should put it back and the parents would feed it.
This morning, I let it go in some bushes near where I had found it. The birds I thought were the parents fly near but have not gone to care for it.
Will they still care for it even though I had it for approx. 15 hours? I don’t know who to ask and people posting seem to know a lot more than I do. Please help if you can.
my cat brought me what I think is a fledgling sparrow it seems to be able to fly somewhat but my darn cat tore out his tail feathers.what could I feed him and how long would it take for his tail feathers to grow back?