House sparrow care

If you find a wild bird - say, a house sparrow, how do you care for it?

I found a website that discusses how to provide warmth, food, hydration, and many other issues regarding how to care for a young sparrow. Check out the website: http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm.

Here's another website of a non-profit organization that deals specifically with rescuing wild birds: http://tinywingsinneed.us/. They have provided me with a lot of information, answering my questions very patiently. You may email them at tinywingsinneed@aol.com.

It's very difficult for a wild bird to survive if it wasn't raised by its parents. Every young bird that comes to your care is a big challenge and a noble undertaking. You will need all the help you can get.

The difference five days make

In just five days, the bald little hatchling has transformed to a partly feathered bird, very close to becoming a fledgling. See the transformation for yourself:

Day 5: the bird is no longer bald

After just five days in my care, the hatchling has developed a lot of pin feathers. His back already has small feathers, and his chest is covered with small white feathery down as well.

It's great that this little fighter is growing up real well. I have a feeling he'll make it into adulthood.

Day 3: the sole survivor is thriving

Here he is, the sole survivor. He loves sleeping in my hand, whenever I have to hold him because I am cleaning his makeshift nest. He just suddenly closes his eyes when he realizes he's in my hand.

He has sprouted some small pin feathers on his wings. Interesting milestone. ^_^

Day 1: three hatchlings have passed on

The hatchlings I spoke of in the previous post were doing okay a day after they were adopted. They had great appetite and chirped actively.


Unfortunately, they had bruises on their body. Three of them had free blood floating inside their abdomens, easily seen because of their thin transparent skin. Despite the bruises, they seemed to be doing well.


It was then a sad day when three of the four hatchlings died one after the other. The first hatchling that died had a big bruise on her neck. He started gasping for breath, and hours later, stopped breathing altogether. This is him before he became sick:



He is the second smallest of the four. Perhaps he suffered internal injuries that started to manifest only after several hours. I grieved him the most because of the three that died, he was the one whose agony is longest. :(


Here are the other hatchlings, sleeping peacefully on the day they were adopted. Sadly, these two died as well. The second hatchling to die just did so mysteriously. No signs of respiratory distress nor change in behavior.


Good news is, one of them survived. The eldest, biggest, and strongest survived whatever killed its three siblings.

Adopting house sparrows

Six days ago, four hatchlings were found on the ground. They might have fallen from their nest, but that would be unlikely because they were newly hatched and could barely move about. Most probably, their parents pushed them out, or perhaps another bird did just to claim the nest as his own.


Knowing that they will die without care, I decided to adopt them - for now, at least, as I want them to be released in the wild later where they will thrive much better.


Here is a picture of the hatchlings on the day they were found: