Amateur birdwatcher Patrick Smith was taking a smoke break in an empty parking lot outside his office building in Riverside, Calif., when he heard distressed chirping.
He followed the chirps to a PVC pipe where he saw a tiny bird stuck inside upside down. He did the right thing and pulled the fatigued bird out of the pipe.
What happened next will change your life…
OK, so maybe what happened next won’t change your life, but it will make you say, “aww.”
With the tired baby bird in his hand (which appears to be a killdeer), he returned the bird to its mom and dad, who were circling Smith and the baby bird.
When the three birds reconnect, you see the small bird nuzzle its parents. Now that’s a happy ending.
One of our most asked questions here at Backyard Chirper is what to do when you find a baby bird. We generally refer people to this helpful blog post on finding baby birds, which says to first determine whether the bird is a nestling or a fledgling.
This fledgling was probably in the process of learning how to fly and ended up getting stuck in a pipe. Had Smith seen this bird struggling on the ground, he should have left it alone. Since the bird was in danger and distressed, he definitely did the right thing by saving it.
Also, this further shows that touching a baby bird will not result in the parents rejecting it!
