Is it a Baby or an Adult Bird?

It is not uncommon to mistake an injured adult bird for a baby bird, often because the bird is very small and cannot fly, or because the bird appears “fluffy” due to shock. Some birds are smaller when full grown than commonly seen baby birds. There are a few giveaway signs to identify baby birds (though not all baby birds have these traits, birds that do have them are certainly babies):

• Fleshy yellow or white skin at the corners of the bird’s beak. This skin is known as the “gape flanges,” and they are present on baby bird’s that still “gape” their mouths open to be fed by their parents.

• Tufts of down sticking through the feathers

• Naked patches under wings (note that these should be symmetrical – a bird with a naked patch under only one wing may be missing feathers because of an injury)

• Frequent peeping or chirping even when handled or contained

• Very short tails relative to the adult of the same species. It is important to distinguish, however, that the bird has tail feathers that are not fully grown and is not simply missing its tail—an injury commonly caused by cat attacks

• Pin feathers visible

Back to main question page.