baby house sparrow

[may]

a pair of house sparrows has a nest in the wall of our building, about 6 feet above the door off the parking lot. yesterday afternoon when getting home i found a fledgeling sitting by the door. we stared at each other for about 5 minutes. the parents were flying (and mating) around the parking lot and i figured he'd be alright. i went to open the door and he tried to fly away. he made it about 15 feet and then flew into a wall. he wasn't going very fast and could definitely see the wall coming so he wasn't hurt. his parents flew over to check him out and the mother fed him. we decided they were teaching him to fly and we'd check back in a while. a half-hour later i went back downstairs. i could hear his parents but not see them, and he was sitting under the wheel of a car. i went back a half hour after that and he was under a different wheel of the same car with no signs of the parents. a half hour later, it was raining and getting dark and he was still huddled under the wheel and his parents were definitely gone for the night. we waiting another 15 minutes (now officially very dark out) and he was still under there and so i reached around and picked him up without a struggle.

so now i have a fledgeling house sparrow in a shoebox in my bathroom. what am i supposed to do?! i held him while my boyfriend arranged a blanket in the box last night and he was very alert and healthy looking. a lot of the feathers around his face still have the casings on them and he has a very sad little baby tail and from the looks of him when he tried flying, about half the flight feathers he really needs. he's also around half the size of his parents.

this morning i put a little seed in a shallow dish with a bit of water in it. i know he went to check it out but i don't know if he ate anything. i put the water in with the seed because his parents were still feeding him and he probably has no idea about food and water and i don't want him getting dehydrated.

he's sitting on the blanket looking very suspicious and his tiny tail is pointed up in the air. it looks pretty strange and i wonder if that posturing is a bad sign.

any advice would be helpful. i'm going to try calling wildlife rescue later one, but i'm not so sure they'll be gung-ho to rehabilitate an invasive species!

[may]

UPDATE:

his tail is down now. he just chirped at me and jumped into his food dish. the water has been soaked up by the seed so he's not wet or anything. maybe after sitting in his food for a minute the idea of eating it will dawn on him?

[may]

now he's singing (a lot) much to the interest of my cat, sunday.

[Crystal]

You can hand feed him until he starts to get the idea of how to eat seed. Buy some Kaytee Exact (bird hand feeding formula) from your local pet store and an appropriately sized needleless syringe (or you can spoon feed him) and follow the instructions on the side of the container.

Good luck!

[may]

that might be easier said than done! he's now trying to escape every time i peak in the box.

[may]

new question!

he just escaped from the box and pooped on my boyfriend. i think that's a good sign, but have to check. the last time we know for sure his parents fed him was 16-17 hours ago. if he just pooped, does that mean it's likely that he's been eating the seed i put out for him?

[Crystal]

That's a good question and something I would have to look up but I am pretty sure they have short digestive tract transit times...

An alternative to trying to hand feed him if he wants to eat food on his own (but you're not sure he's eating seed) is to soak some dog kibble in warm water and mash it up a little bit and feed that to him. It is more nutritionally balanced than seed and he may find it easier to eat.

[may]

i actually already tried that. i ground up egg shell, a little hard boiled egg and some wet kibble. i don't think he's impressed by it one bit!