Found a baby fledgling help!!!!!

[GreenWing]

Since it is a wild bird, take the bird to the Audubon Society right away for care. This is a baby bird and as Pajarita says, it will need to eat. It may not eat solids, rather food directly given from the parent birds.

[liz]

Even babies of seed eaters need some protein. The parents catch bugs and stuff for them. When at the zoo they taught me that softened dry cat food works. Not only does it have some protein but it is a shape that is easy to get in the birds mouth. Then you can expand to fruits in the same size as the cat food. Lettuce is not a good food for them.

These babies need to eat every 20 minutes. If he is just sitting there you can wave your hand over him and he will go into feeding mode. (like a parent casting a shadow when it comes back with food.

He cannot be put out at this stage since he does not know how to feed himself. If you are not able to care for him properly then give him to a wildlife rescue group. I raised a naked and blind squirrel to adulthood then put it out with other squirrels. It was not easy to take care of him and he needed all my attention. When I was given another squirrel I found a rescue group to take her as soon as she came off the bottle.

She was a beautiful girl with shiny hair and very loving. Within 15 minutes of being put with other baby squirrels she was as dirty as they were from playing and no longer had any interest in me.

Though I gave him care and would bring in things from outside to prepare him for release, what I did for her was much more humane. Now when someone brings me a baby to raise I find the rescue group that takes them. Wild things need to be with their own. Once they were finding and eating what was given to them the squirrels were release in a place where food was plentiful and had each other to be with.

[Pajarita]

If you post some pictures, I may be able to find out what species of bird it is and maybe what it would normally eat.

Wolf is correct. Lettuce and fruit is not going to keep the baby healthy, he will die on such a diet as it has no protein. But giving it beef is not the solution, either. You need to find out which species it is and what the parents eat during breeding season.