June 22: House Finch and crows

A baby House Finch was recently dropped off at the care center after hours – which is against care center policy – with only a brief note attached to its box. The bird is perfectly healthy, but the anonymous person who brought it in was concerned outdoor cats would injure the baby. We ask that people give bird parents a chance to do their job: unless a baby bird is injured or orphaned, it should be left alone. For more information, read our brochure about what to do if you find a baby bird.

The young crows pictured below had conjunctivitis when they arrived at the care center, but all three are doing well now. However, we are also housing several young crows who were healthy when they arrived and should have been left in the wild. When crows are found on the ground, it can be hard to tell if the bird is an injured adult or a healthy fledgling - fledglings can spend up to a week on the ground before they build up their flight capabilities, and they're similar in size to adults. One easy way to tell the two age groups apart is eye color: adults have black eyes and juveniles have gray/blue eyes (see below). More information.