I live near a street corner that has stores with awnings on all sides, and many pigeons nest there all year round--I wish they wouldn't, because it's not the safest corner in terms of human activity and traffic; I see dead ones in the street all the time... Anyway, every couple of months at least I will come across what may or may not be an abandoned fledgling. I've picked up a few, but it's always a struggle, because I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing. If their parents are around, of course I'd rather leave them be; but I can't bear the thought of walking away from one and just leaving it to die.
I'm just wondering what people's rules of thumb are in terms of picking up youngsters. I was told by a rehabber that often the parents are in fact around even when fledglings appear to be on their own. But I'm worried about lots of human activity on the ground in this particular area keeping the parents from returning for their offspring.
(My latest example was this morning: a fledgling had fluttered into the subway entrance at the corner and was walking around this intermediate platform one flight down from the sidewalk--the actual subway entrance is the next level down. The youngster seemed unhurt--I'm guessing about 4-4.5 weeks old or even older, in the early stages of flight. I didn't approach it at the time, but stopped back again two hrs later on my way home to check. It was raining, so I wasn't sure whether chasing him up to the sidewalk was the best option. I eventually spotted him outside, near the subway entrance, on top of a phone booth, sitting slightly fluffed out against the rain--no clue if he flew out there or if someone brought him back up; I kind of doubt the latter, people here aren't so friendly with pigeons. It seemed like a pretty safe spot, definitely out of reach for other animals and barely visible to humans. I have no clue what his flying skills are, but decided to just leave him, hoping his parents are watching out for him. I realize he may not be able to fly in the rain, so may have to wait it out; he's sort of half under the awning, half out, but hopefully at least semi-sheltered. To me this seems like a pretty obvious case of leaving the fledgling alone-- but I really have a hard time knowing for sure.)
I'm just wondering what people's rules of thumb are in terms of picking up youngsters. I was told by a rehabber that often the parents are in fact around even when fledglings appear to be on their own. But I'm worried about lots of human activity on the ground in this particular area keeping the parents from returning for their offspring.
(My latest example was this morning: a fledgling had fluttered into the subway entrance at the corner and was walking around this intermediate platform one flight down from the sidewalk--the actual subway entrance is the next level down. The youngster seemed unhurt--I'm guessing about 4-4.5 weeks old or even older, in the early stages of flight. I didn't approach it at the time, but stopped back again two hrs later on my way home to check. It was raining, so I wasn't sure whether chasing him up to the sidewalk was the best option. I eventually spotted him outside, near the subway entrance, on top of a phone booth, sitting slightly fluffed out against the rain--no clue if he flew out there or if someone brought him back up; I kind of doubt the latter, people here aren't so friendly with pigeons. It seemed like a pretty safe spot, definitely out of reach for other animals and barely visible to humans. I have no clue what his flying skills are, but decided to just leave him, hoping his parents are watching out for him. I realize he may not be able to fly in the rain, so may have to wait it out; he's sort of half under the awning, half out, but hopefully at least semi-sheltered. To me this seems like a pretty obvious case of leaving the fledgling alone-- but I really have a hard time knowing for sure.)
