Baby robin help - anyone knows birds?

[nnmaru1]

Anyone knows wild birds/robins please?

Here is the deal, we had a robin chick (hopper, not flyer) fall out of the nest in the yard. Don’t know where the nest was; the baby was too young and vulnerable to leave out – he wandered off into alley bunch of times.
So we put him in a cage OUTDOORS (I know it sounds crazy but his father who feeds the chick, is tame… yes, we have a tame wild robin, in addition to the SQs). He doesn’t mind us touching the chick, moving the cage, etc. DAD STILL FEEDS HIM, there is a small opening in the cage left for dad to come in with worms, etc. We saw him feed the chick all the time, for a few days now. In and out of the cage. Mom is MIA, only saw her few times.
The dad leaves at 8pm, chicks sleeps well, dad back in the early morning. We feed the dad (meal worms, peanuts which he loves).

Today, I went to work in the morning – the chick is gone from the cage. The little bugger flew out. My hubs located him on a neighbor's tree - BUT from what we know, the chick can not feed himslef yet.

The pic is a bit fuzzy but on the first one, you can see both dad (right) and chick (left, yellow beak) inside. They were doing so well – what happened,
why did he leave the cage?

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/robcage1.jpg
How can we coerce him back down - we just want to make sure DAD robin feeds him... he acts pretty helpless still, the baby.
Or - if he can fly up the tree, he can fend for himslef? please comment if you know... because the dad robin is so special to us (now we know why he dive-bombed a SQ or two), we want this chick to live pretty badly.

[CritterMom]

Can you watch him for a bit? Dad will probably continue feeding him in the tree. And props to Daddy Robin - what a cool individual he is!

[nnmaru1]

yeah... my man is home but not sure if he can watch him right now.
he is supposed to email me with any update.

yes, this (dad) robin is pretty extraodinary. he sort of talks to us? makes eye contact and this soft puff sound - he doesn't use same sounds to talk to other robins. He likes us around... mama robin thinks we suck.
I'm not a huge bird person, but we saw how dedicated the dad was to the chick, and just couldn't have the little booger roam the yard until we wanders onto the road...
also, we had torential storms/rain/wind/cold over the weekend, so I don't think the baby would survive.
the dad flew and fed him still, all wet and tired, despite :thankyou
The cage was moved a number of times (weather, etc).

So... not sure if the chick will get fed in the tree. Any special foods, etc- to get him down and off the tree?

the weather will be great all week... just need to make sure baby eats. if he gets too hungry - will he fly down or fall :thinking

[Pierre]

If the baby is in the tree, it must have gotten there him/herself. If he/she can do that, he/she must be a fledgling and should be fine.

The dad sounds amazing [!] and will surely keep watching and feeding his baby as a fledgling, seeing how dedicated he was when the baby was just a nestling. :Love_Icon

Nice story! I love robins. They love my bird bath---always taking baths. :D

[CritterMom]

And if Papa was willing to feed him INSIDE A CAGE I am sure he is probably still ferrying bugs to him now.

The papa robin - did this just happen -him being a people person - or did you handraise him?

[nnmaru1]

Oh good lord… thanks all.

The booger baby is back in the cage… he is not ready – can NOT feed himself, gets wedged in, etc. But insists on hopping around.
So my hubby had to trap him and back in the cage he is. The robin dad deserves a medal, for sure.

Here is my hubs email of 5 mins ago:

“Man the baby birds been moving around a lot. found him by the side of the garage and the fence and left him alone. later he got trapped in the fenced in garden in the neighbors yard and i had to wait until she left to get her kids and went and got him. he is a real bonehead. have him back in the cage but no door and with the top off. he can't get vertical enough to get out. still a baby. does not know how to eat by himself. needs dad to keep feeding him. took dad a while to figure out to come in from top and not side. just watching to make sure they will be ok now”

You all look into this thread tomorrow or Friday, I’ll have some really outstanding pics of this story, I promise.

If ANYONE knows how to keep a cruising baby robin put, please let me know before I get gray hair tinfoil

Hey C-mom, we did not handraise the robin Dad... he came that way. Just brighter then your average bird. He just came to live in our yard. Saw us feeding SQs and started asking for food, greeting us etc. He is very tame and sweet. He will come 2 feet close if you call.

[Pierre]

Does the baby have full feathers without the pins covers? They might look shorter, and his tail feathers will be very short.

If he's a fledgling, he does not need to stay put. Actually he needs to hop around and start learning things, including how to fly. The robin dad [parents] will watch him and feed him all the while he is bopping around on the ground and in bushes. It's part of their growing up. :D

Seems scary and dangerous, because they can't fly hardly, but most all baby birds have a similar fledgling experience. :Love_Icon

[nnmaru1]

the little booger looks like this:

http://www.kqed.org/quest/files/blog_robin.jpg

he can fly a few feet, and hop... but he does not know how to feed! other then opening his mouth.
plus he gravitates towards alley (cars...) and places where he gets stuck.
i think he is better off in the cage with dad feeding him.
it looks like his dad can't find the baby when he goes off on one of his side trips... arrrg, i don't know.

i understand the whole "that's nature" thing, but really, he will rpobably get run over if we leave the baby to his own devices :(
he does not react to food at all, unless you're actually sticking it in his mouth.

stanby for updates tomorrow :thankyou

[Pierre]

Oh yes, he's a fledgling! And nope, they can't really feed themselves, they still need their parents to come feed them just like when they were in the nest. Cutie.

It's great to keep an eye on him and shoo him away from dangerous places but he does need this time running around the ground to practice flapping and hopping so he can eventually fly. :grouphug

Leave him in for the night with the top on the cage for safety, but let him go hop about in the morning if he likes!

[nnmaru1]

Thanks for the good points Pierre.

Well, he was only in the cage for a bit last night… the little bugger made it out.
You are right – it’s sink or swim time. This time, we’re confident he should be ok – it took a lot of strength and thinking to get out of the new cage setup!

So the Baby should be fine. We haven’t seen him today, but saw Dad robin flying across the street with beak full of worms, so he may be right around.

We’re keeping an eye out. I’m hope he shows himself…. We just want to know he’s ok, that’s all :)

Good pics to come soon, or as soon as my guy downloads them for me.

[Pierre]

Oh, your baby's off on his big life adventure! It's hard caring for them and then seeing them leave, knowing all the dangers they might encounter!

I'm sure that was dad following him and feeding him. Dad should should keep him in in his territory so hopefully you will see him again these next few weeks. :grouphug

[nnmaru1]

OK, a little update with good pictures as promised:

We finally saw the (now almost grown!) baby robin yesterday :woot:
His dad brought him back into our yard in the eve, I didn’t grab the camera but it’s certainly our booger… he is doing so well, big and beautiful – feathered now and almost adult-like, minus the chest spots.

Here are some older pictures from “Saving private robin” story… the baby and his dad, the infamous cage (he was just too young to troll around, lol).
We were so thrilled they are doing well (saw mom too, raiding our flower beds).

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/robindadwormsGRT1.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/robindadbabgood4.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/robindadbabgood.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/robindadbabfeedGRT1.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/robindadbycage.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/robinbabcagefunnySIDe.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/babyrobdadfeed1OK.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/nnmaru1/babyrobclose6GOOD.jpg

The baby is so handsome now, looking like a mini hawk – looks just like this!
http://squirrelbasket.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/young-robin-01.jpg?w=400&h=300

[Chickenlegs]

Ya done GOOD! It's what baby robins do--flutter down and expect the parental units to feed em. Trouble is, thar be predators out there and a baby robin is a good meal for too many of em. You did the BEST ever--let nature take her course but offered a little help till Jr. could fly.

[rozdow]

Outstanding pictures :thumbsup

[nnmaru1]

thanks all - it was a fun experience.

dad robin still loves us the most of the family. the youngling has a major attitude :D

[Pierre]

Those are absolutely beautiful pictures. What a lucky little guy you helped him along! Love his little "hair sprigs". Even more impressive is your wonderful relationship with his dad. How cool is that?? :D

[nnmaru1]

Those are absolutely beautiful pictures. What a lucky little guy you helped him along! Love his little "hair sprigs". Even more impressive is your wonderful relationship with his dad. How cool is that?? :D

i think it's awesome, too... i never paid much attention to robins before, but the Dad Robin is a special creature.
He greets me when I come home from work and always makes a point to say hello - even if I don't have a peanut in my hand.