Here's a bird story for you. My daughter is visiting my granddaughter and sent me a picture of a

[Arkansas Granny]

baby bird. My granddaughter was mowing her yard yesterday evening when she almost ran over it. It appeared to be uninjured, but way too young to leave the nest. It has some feathers, but still has areas of skin visible. She looked all around to see if she could locate the nest, but couldn't see anything. She put it in a shoe box and put it on the porch to see if any birds were looking for it. Nothing happened, so she brought it inside when it started getting dark. They fed it some softened cat food, which it eagerly accepted, and it settled down for the night.

This morning my daughter got up early and took the baby out to the porch to feed it while she had her coffee. She stepped back inside for a minute and when she got back to the door, a male Cardinal was flying all around checking the box out so she decided to observe for a few minutes. Sure enough, he finally landed on the edge of the box and poked some food in the baby's mouth. Just a few minutes later, the female showed up and she also fed the baby. Yay!

The plan now is to make a safe place on the porch so the parents can continue raising this fledgling until it's able to leave the nest, but to bring it inside at night. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[SheltieLover]

1. Yaaaaaay!

Cardinals are amazing to watch growing up!

And kudos to the brave parents and your kind grandaughter!

[Baitball Blogger]

2. I just co-parented three baby Carolina Wrens.

We have empty hanging pots by the front door, and in one day, the parents built a hobbit house. They added lots of thatch and hollowed a hole, as an entrance. Did it in one day.

It was so quiet for several weeks that we thought they had left. But my husband looked in the hole one night and saw the Mother bird staring right at him. He looked in the morning and saw three eggs.

Again, everything went quiet.

Then, it was apparent that the parents were coming by 1-3 times a morning -- not what you would consider normal. I would expect lots more visits. So I purchased meal worms from Petsmart and put 4-6 in a bowl near the nest. They would be gone within a matter of minutes. I picked the smallest worms, because these parents don't always chew the food and put it in the babies mouth. I have seen a baby with a worm sticking out of its mouth. It didn't seem to know what to do with it.

And then it happened. One day I got to finally see all three baby birds. They all fledged in a matter of 7 minutes. All fully formed and flying like champs.

So, with my co-parenting skills, I would say make a nest with thatch, the best way you can, then secure it to a ledge under the eaves. Put the baby inside. Leave some more thatch for them to improve on your design.

And if you really want to be helpful, leave some mealworms in a bowl near the nest.

[Nictuku]

3. I had a similar situation with a Scrub Jay baby

I did almost exactly the same thing. I figured out a way to have a box hung up between 2 trees and had a plastic planter (with a rasied up nesting material area) in the middle of it (so if the bird got over the edge of the planter it would still be in the box, safe from critters if I wasn't watching).

The parents came and fed it, but I would bring it inside at night. After about a week, I was able to have it perch on my hand, and try to help it figure out to fly. A few days of this, and then he did fly up into the trees, and then off into the wild blue yonder.

I was so happy to be able to save this baby, had I not taken it in, it would have been critter food, for sure.