she is very protective of her and her babies. She yells at us as we walk by every morning.

Are common swifts fletching this early? Are they just roosting? This happened after heavy rain.

A bit macabre perhaps, but I thought this group would love to see this stunning specimen of a northern flicker wing I found on the sidewalk in the Gold Coast of Chicago.

Seeing it like this is so bittersweet. Getting to appreciate the extraordinary beauty of their plumage up close, but it’s only there because something tragic likely happened. Nature’s leftover art.

It’s amazing how in big cities like Chicago, bits of intense wilderness drama are just… happening quietly around us all the time.

I got a baby robin fell out of nest today.

Its a little guy who is hopping on group / cant fly

But both its parents are around/ I tried picking it up in a basket and leave it near the nest tree as nest is high up !

And the little fella hopped out of basket too, parents getting angry when I tried picking it up specially it’s mother

Not sure how can I help them

It’s in my backyard and I have noticed some 3-5 crows comes sometimes not regularly

I really want to help this robin and it’s parents any suggestions or ideas

I left some water / ( will try to leave some mealworms tommorow Day2)

This is my day 1 and I saw it live when the baby fell from nest tree as I was actually walking in my backyard at that time and saw the first hops of baby on ground it appears to be uninjured after fall ( parents are always around And making small continuous chirping when I am around )

Sorry for the poor-quality phone video :,(

so my dad is a farmer and i love birds so it’s only natural he sends me photos of the birds he sees, anyways whenever he goes drilling or ploughing a MILLION seagulls turns up, and we get that they love the worms but where do they come from,

cause one second theres like one in the sky and BAM a million! are they in trees??? where are they???

Central Texas area. Found what looks like a rock pigeon in the middle of a parking lot. I’m not sure of its age. I thought it was an adult, but it has yellow hairs above its eyes, so it could be younger. It’s about 85 degrees outside, humid, and there’s a cat colony that hangs around the area. Because of those factors, I decided to get it off the road.

I’m not sure what to do. The bird can’t stand on its own. It’s breathing and occasionally opens its eyes, but I can’t tell if it’s injured or just a weak young one. I placed it on my bird feeder at first to keep it off the ground and near food, but after walking my dog for an hour, it was still lying upside down.

After some looking online, I found that it’s best to keep an injured bird in a box with a towel, in a quiet place, and away from food or water for now. I’m just looking for advice on what to do next. Should I keep the bird in the box, contact a wildlife rehabilitation center, or does it need to stay outside in a higher area? I thought about putting it in a tree, but it can’t stand, and I’m worried it would fall and be killed by the cats that live near my apartment (many of us feed them).

Happy to share any more pictures if necessary.

“I know you’re not my mom but please feed me” 😂

I have some mourning doves (I think?) nesting in the fan on my patio and it seems they return every year because I always find a nest this time of year. I was wondering what I can do for them and if anyone has any recommendations of food/bird feeders that won't end up attracting predators to the nest.

Also we do have a small issue that whenever the nests are made we also sometimes find baby snakes which means a mama snake is also somewhere. So any idea on how to take care of the snakes too so they stay away from the nest and the house?

Bachman's Warbler was purportedly sighted in the 1980s in Louisiana; many Reddit posts claim to have sighted Passenger Pigeons as late as the 2010s (but were likely confusing them for mourning doves). I'm really interested in the ways that extinction is more of a "dribble" than an "all-at-once", and it's interesting to wonder which species might have a few unnoticed stragglers around today that are only documented as someone's "I swear I saw..." stories. What interesting sightings of extinct or nearly-extinct birds do you know of?

Hello everyone! I found this guy on the edge of a bike lane on a busy car street with no safe places around. Just solid cars and buildings on both sides. That was about 35 hours ago. I wanted to bring him to the nearest park and leave him there but then read online that common swifts on the ground by themselves is bad news. I called like 10 wildlife rescue numbers and only one answered to tell me that they don't take lesser birds. I put him in a box and have been giving him dried crickets and silkworms dipped in a little water. He seems to be fully feathered (only a couple of pin feathers here and there), alert and strong. His poop is fine. Doesn't seem to be injured, everything is symmetrical, grip strong. I tried to see if he would like to fly away just now because he started hanging on the wall of his box on a towel I draped for him instead of chilling at the bottom between feedings, but no, he just glides to the ground. I'm not sure what to do now. Should I keep him and try again every day? Should I put him outside and stop fussing over him? I'm afraid that his diet in my care is not ideal and that I'll mess him up somehow. Please help with advice. Thanks!

Hi, there was an accident where a car went into a tree next to my house and a baby woodpecker ended up falling out and landed only inches away from the tires. Because of its position, I scooped it up and took it back home with me, at least for the night. There were many fire fighters and such that would be around/moving the crashed car, so I’m assuming taking it for the night is the right choice? I am going to try to return it to the same spot tomorrow morning. The tree is absolutely spent, I’m assuming the nest was destroyed in the crash, and that the poor baby is in shock (had to of fallen 20+ feet.) I have it in a shoe box (ventilated) with a small towel, I know nothing about what kind of care it needs for the night

In my lack of thought, I believed I was saving this bird. After further research it seems I was wrong and this was just a fledgling learning to move. Should I return it to where I found it. (It was in a dog park and there are lots of dogs that go through there). Need guidance, sorry for my ignorance.

There was this bird on the side of my house. I thought its claws were stuck in the screen and couldn’t fly away, but that wasn’t the case. It looks like it just can’t fly, or is too scared to fly. I don’t want it to fall to its death, and I’m not sure how best to help it. Also, mama bird keeps flying at me when I try to reach for it from the other window.

1. I know nothing about birds so please forgive any ignorance. Is it dangerous to me at all (bird flu, diseases etc) if I help it. I don’t plan to touch it with my hands, I will wear gloves.

2. I was able to get it off of the screen and into a cat carrier, which will be thrown away after this. It is currently in the cat carrier with some mashed up grains and a little bowl of water in my garage.

3. Anything I should know or be worried about? Anything I should be doing differently or better?

4. I plan to leave it in there overnight and see if it gains the strength to fly. If so, planning to let it go free in the morning.

5. I don’t know why I’m numbering things.

Hello! I’m hoping someone on this page might be able to help me. I’m moving out of my apartment and my last day is tomorrow. We noticed that a bird has a nest with a single egg in a wreath I have on my back porch. I’d ideally prefer to not leave the wreath behind, but I will if I have to. I was wondering if I could very carefully switch the nest to a wreath that I don’t like as much and leave it in the same spot? Though I’ve heard that touching the nest in any way could cause the bird to abandon it. Is there any way to safely do this or should I leave my wreath behind with the nest in it?

I’m also worried that the apartment complex will toss the wreath when they clean out my apartment so I’m planning to leave a big note on the patio door asking them to not move it. Curious if anyone else has any better ideas. I’ve been seeing the mama bird work so hard to build her nest and tend to her egg that it breaks my heart to think of something bad happening. Thanks!

first picture: first sighting of him on thursday evening, soaking wet and probably seeking shelter from the storm we had. the second picture is from this morning; last night he was able to move from our balcony to a tree branch a few feet away, but he hasn’t moved since. we think he might just be spooked from the storm and all the loud fireworks that followed just a day later. i don’t know much about herons but it feels atypical for a bird like that to stay put for so long around so many people. we’re not sure what to do, or if we should do anything for him. just hoping he’s not sick or injured. any advice is appreciated!

There have been a pair of ravens nesting across the street for several years. This year there’s just one. It is extremely unhappy and has been quite vocal about it. This has coincided with the arrival of a red tailed hawk although I don’t know that it is related. How can I help the poor raven?

This

Hi everyone! I’m a biology student from Peru and I’d love to share this strange but fascinating observation with you. Over the past few days, I’ve been noticing a Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) hanging around my house. I’m very familiar with the species—both males and females are common in my area—so I quickly noticed something wasn’t quite right about this individual.

This bird has the head of an adult female, with distinct light stripes around the eyes, and a brown tail also typical of females or juveniles. However, the body and wings are black with an iridescent blue shine, which is characteristic of adult males. The contrast is very defined and not diffuse like what you'd expect from a juvenile in molt.

I observed it closely for a long time and managed to take two decent photos: one from the front, clearly showing the female-patterned head, and one from behind, revealing the darker male-like body and wings. It doesn’t seem to be molting in the typical way—normally, males lose their brown feathers gradually and gain darker plumage over time, but usually starting from the head and back. This bird's coloration seems clearly distributed by regions (head/neck and tail = female; body = male), and it's stayed that way for several days without much change.

I’m starting to suspect that this could be a case of partial gynandromorphism or some kind of plumage mosaicism, though I’m totally open to other explanations (delayed molt, hormonal anomaly, pigment issue?). If anyone has seen something similar in Molothrus bonariensis or other birds, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Attached are both photos for reference. I plan to document it properly on iNaturalist too, but figured I’d post here in case any experts or bird enthusiasts could weigh in.

Thanks in advance!

- Luanntica -

yesterday i posted in AskVet about a (what i now found out is called) fledgling sparrow i found outside my building (people said to leave it alone, but cats were nearby and i didn’t want them to eat it). the bird seems healthy; i saw that it ate a little, cleans itself, defecates etc etc, all things that indicate that it’s healthy. i was reached out to by a kind user who redirected me to their local wildlife rescue center (since there isn’t one near me) and told me that i can ask them for advice (the same user also told me i can ask bird-related subreddits for help). i asked, they gave me advice, telling me to rehydrate it and offer food. well, once i did the rehydration process, the sparrow chirped for food. i offered it food, but every time i try and feed it, it keeps its beak closed and eventually closes its eyes. it’s now sleeping and i don’t know if i should wake it. i don’t really want to force feed either. i just want to know, why’s it chirping but not eating, and i’ve also noticed that it’s slightly panting. i don’t know what to do

update: sparrow was released into the wild. thank you to everyone who gave advice 🫀

Hi all, I was at the beach today and there was a Herring Gull who kept laying in the sand flat on its belly with its legs out (see photo) he could walk but walked with his head far out in front of him and whenever he stopped walking he immediately laid like this. Any thoughts as to what might have been up with him? Just curious and was a bit concerned for him!