Posted by Karen Kenney on April 14, 2002 at 10:56:13:
We have a bird house on one of our trees. I know the birds had babies in there but haven't seen them go in there in a couple of days. The children and I decided to open the house and check out the nest (we are very curious about wildlife). So, I opened the door yesterday and poked at the nest a little to make sure nothing was in there. Then what I thought was a baby bird popped out at me. I closed the door and left it alone. Overnight I started thinking that the mother abandoned one bird and that's what was left in there. The next day we notice no birds going into the nest so we decided to take a look. We noticed that something was moving in there and thought it was the baby bird. We decided to take the bird out and try to nurse it outselves as opposed to letting it die. When I opened the door and pulled the nest onto a clean trashcan cover a chipmunk popped out and then we heard squeaking noises. Come to find out there were 3 babies in the nest. The chipmunk ran up the tree and back into the open and empty bird house. I didn't want to put the birds back because she was in the house and I was afraid she would hump at me. After a while she disappeared and we haven't seen her in a couple of hours. I put the babies that were still in the nest back in the house. I'm hoping the mother will come back over night. What should I do? Should I leave them along for a couple of days and hope that the mother will come back. How long can they live without drinking/eating? Or, do I wait a day and if we don't see the mother take them out and try to nurse them ourselves? Any suggestions would help. Thanks
