Finding a baby sparrow can be a heartwarming experience. However, it comes with the responsibility of ensuring its survival, especially when the parents are nowhere to be found. Understanding the dietary needs of a fledgling sparrow is crucial for its healthy development. This article provides a comprehensive guide to feeding a fledgling sparrow, covering everything from identifying its age to preparing appropriate food and feeding techniques.
Identifying a Fledgling Sparrow
Before attempting to feed a baby sparrow, it's essential to determine whether it's a newborn nestling or a fledgling. Nestlings are baby sparrows under a week old, characterized by their limited mobility and inability to open their eyes much. Fledglings, on the other hand, look like miniature versions of adult birds, with noticeable feathers and increased mobility. Since sparrows develop quickly, nestlings start turning into fledglings about 1 week after birth.
Nutritional Needs of Fledgling Sparrows
Starlings and sparrows are omnivores that require high levels of animal proteins. A good handfeeding formula for sparrows, starlings, and other omnivorous passerines is as follows: 1 cup soaked cat food (12.1% fat, 33.1% protein) ¼ cup applesauce 1 hard boiled egg Avian vitamins 750 mg calcium (tums smooth dissolve tablets work) ground to a powder and dissolved in water. Starlings and Sparrows require 33.1% protein and 12.1% fat.
Preparing Food for Fledgling Sparrows
Commercial Baby Bird Formula
Most pet stores sell baby bird formulas, which are a convenient option for feeding baby sparrows. Formula is basically made from the same things you could blend and freeze for food. These formulas are designed to provide the necessary nutrients for young birds and can be given to baby sparrows as long as they need to be hand-fed.
Homemade Food Blend
If you prefer to make your own food, a simple and nutritious blend can be prepared using pet food. When choosing a food, check the ingredients list. Get something with plenty of protein, preferably a food with something like 12.1% fat and 33.1% protein. Although wet food is usually safe as well, choose dry food if you can. Submerge it in a dish of water. The food will expand and soften. You can then pick it up with a pair of tweezers or another tool. Set aside a small bowl with just enough water to cover the food you plan on using. While you’re soaking the food, consider adding a multivitamin to the water. The multivitamin will provide some things that can’t be found in food. Look for vitamins meant for wild birds instead of ones specifically designed for parrots. If you’re unable to find avian multivitamins, human multivitamins can be an okay substitute. This food blend is easy to freeze and thaw as needed. This mixture can also be used to feed fledglings.
Read also: Diet of the Chipping Sparrow
To prepare the food:
- Soak a whole cup (224 g) of pet food in water to soften it.
- Add a multivitamin to the water.
- If you don’t have a calcium carbonate antacid, you can use eggshells instead.
Insects
Insects are a natural and essential part of a sparrow's diet. Many pet stores sell mealworms and other types of insects. You could try getting white maggots from an angler shop, but bloodworms, crickets, and other bugs are good as well. Stay away from earthworms. When you’re unsure what kind of insect to get, choose something that reptiles eat. Pet supply stores carry different varieties. Remember to keep the food roughly half the size of the sparrow’s beak so it isn’t a choking hazard. Use a pair of tweezers or another tool to pick up the bugs and place them in the sparrow’s beak. If you’re using a live bug, try picking the bug up by the head and squeezing it between the tweezers. You will, unfortunately, end up crushing live bugs when feeding them to your sparrow, but it’s okay. Remember that it’s a part of nature.
Other Food Options
Seeds, meal-worms, little bits of wet cat food or scrambled eggs, and some bread soaked in milk or water should supply all the nutrients it needs. Grains like raw, unshelled, unsalted sunflower seeds are considered safe for fledglings as they transition to adulthood. Note that sparrows don’t need fruits and vegetables. Bread and dairy also aren’t good for them. Baby sparrows do not need water until they are about 4 weeks old. Birds have a bulge on the side of their necks called a crop. Water is very dangerous for a young sparrow, and keep in mind that baby birds don’t drink water.
Feeding Techniques
Baby sparrows eat a lot and they eat frequently. Although it can be a little disruptive, set an alarm to time out feedings. Birds without any feathers should be fed every 30 minutes over 12 hours a day. Birds that have pin feathers or are developing feathers should be fed every 45 minutes (although they can occasionally go 1-2 hours without food if they show signs of disinterest at these feedings. When you go near the sparrow, expect to see it chirping and opening its mouth wide. The sparrow will let you know when it isn’t hungry. If the sparrow won’t eat at all, contact a wildlife professional or vet as soon as possible.
Using a Syringe or Feeding Tool
To deal with liquids like formula, inject it into the sparrow’s mouth with a syringe. For other types of food, such as softened pet food, use something flat that won’t break. Some other tools you could use include a coffee stirrer and a cut straw. Remember that your baby sparrow can’t chew, so it has to swallow food whole. Choose a small piece of food about half the size of its beak, then move it into the sparrow’s mouth. Don’t push it all the way inside the sparrow’s mouth. When offering food, tap the top of the baby bird’s beak lightly. This should stimulate a feeding response, where the baby bird opens its mouth and begins begging. The baby birds may not initially beg for you to feed because they are not used to human feedings. However, once they adjust to this they should be begging at each feeding. Please do not ever feed any sort of worm to a baby bird as worms could have parasites that could have deadly consequences for babies.
Read also: What Song Sparrows Eat
Cleaning Up After Feeding
Be cautious when feeding your sparrow. The dried food can get all over the bird, including inside its eyes and nostrils. Wipe off as much as you can with a dry swab. If you are unable to remove some of the food, lightly dampen the swab in clean, lukewarm water. Shake off excess water before using the cotton swab. Feeding time gets messy sometimes, but clean off leftover food right away.
Transitioning to Independent Feeding
At 4 weeks of age, you can begin leaving food in a bowl in the cage for the baby birds. This will help them learn how to eat on their own. Continue to hand feed, however hand feed a little less during the feedings to help encourage eating on their own. When reducing the frequency of feedings, this should be done slowly and the baby birds’ weights must be monitored. You will still need to handfeed until somewhere around 6-8 weeks of age (varies from bird to bird)- you may need to continue handfeeding even longer. You will know when to stop handfeeding because the baby bird will be eating out of the bowl of food regularly and prefer to feed itself from the dish than from your handfed meals. Sparrows are able to feed themselves after this point. Your sparrow will most likely still open its mouth, waiting to receive a tasty snack. Keep hand-feeding the baby, but reduce the number of times you do it each day. Most sparrows no longer need hand-feeding once they are 6 to 8 weeks old. After a sparrow eats on its own for 3 weeks, switch it to an adult diet. Feeding a fledgling solid foods helps it transition into adulthood, where it will need to feed itself.
Important Considerations
Returning the Bird to its Nest
If the bird does not have any signs of injuries, bites, or other illnesses, please return a baby bird to the nest where it came from if possible. It is an old wives’ tale that birds will not accept their young if they babies leave the nest and protection of their mother or if they have been touched by a human. If the mom does not return to the next right away do not worry- she is likely looking for food to give to her babies. If the bird is completely feathered and you cannot find its nest, please place the fledgling in a bush or tree limb. Keep any cats indoors because it is likely the young bird is learning to fly. Ask the neighbors to do the same for the next few days.
Seeking Professional Help
If the bird does appear injured, please drop the bird off at a wildlife clinic. Baby birds cannot be managed without proper medicine such as antibiotics and pain medicines. Taking care of a baby starling or a baby sparrow is very time and labor intensive. We recommend that you take the baby bird to a wildlife clinic or a wildlife center. Please call the rehabber or wildlife facility first to check and see if these species are accepted, as some facilities will not take species that are not native to Illinois (sparrows and starlings both are invasive species).
Avoiding Dehydration
With baby birds, dehydration is an issue. Do not give any baby birds fluids directly into the mouth because it can cause pneumonia. Pneumonia is caused because fluids are often accidentally sucked into the lungs of the bird instead of the esophagus. To help fight dehydration, offer instead small slivers of fruit, pieces of bread with a special liquid added to it (squeeze the bread out to remove any excessive liquid), or apply a small drop or two of the liquid to the top of the beak. A good liquid solution to help with dehydration is ¼ cup Karo syrup, 1 cup water, and a pinch of salt. This concoction is boiled and then brought to room temperature so it is not hot or cold for the baby. **I could only find this, Gatorade, or 1 pinch salt and 1 pinch sugar in 1 cup of water as solutions to help rehydrate a baby. The rest recommend a rehabilitator
Read also: Sparrow Feeding Habits
Housing
Baby birds need to be placed in a small container such as a margarine tub with paper towels crinkled inside to create a “nest”. This container needs to be placed on a heat pad and the temperature must be specific for the age and appearance of the bird and the baby’s requirements. New featherless babies need the temperature at 90° F. Baby birds with pin feathers should have a temperature of 85°F for their environmental temperature, and baby birds with a full set of feathers should be in a “nest” with the heating pad temperature set at 75° Fahrenheit.
Imprinting
During a critical period of time early in life of a young bird, the bird develops a sense of identification. All courtship, mating, and species-directed behavior is directed towards that class of subspecies and is irreversible. If you have a bird imprint upon you, this bird can never be released into the wild as it will consider itself to be a human, not a bird and will attempt to mate with humans. This is why if someone finds one bird it must be sent to a rehabber or become a domesticated house bird. Because, if it only sees a human that feeds it, it will assume it is human as well. Unlike imprinting, taming a bird is socializing it to humans. This is reversible, but it requires a lot of work. The bird will not exhibit species specific behaviors such as courtship will humans should it become tame. If an animal acts tame, sometimes it cannot be released. Taming can potentially be reversible. For many reasons, baby starlings and sparrows ought to be rehabilitated by a wildlife facility. Please check with local rehabbers to see if they accept baby sparrows and starlings. The above suggestions are for owners who plan to make the starling or sparrow a family pet. Should you plan to make this bird a family pet, we recommend a veterinary visit to ensure your bird is healthy.