newly born birds

Question
Hi, I have a few questions about these two 2 day old baby birds which are in a nest in a tree in our backyard. I'm not sure what kind they are, but the mother is brown coloured. Every time we come near the tree, the mother bird flies away. Why does it do this and not protect its young? Will it do the same if a cat comes along? The nest is easily in reach of a cat. Also, if I visit it daily or a few times a week, is this disturbing the young birds and the mother? Is it best not to do this? The young birds look blind, so if it hears my voice, when it is able to see, will it recognise me and not fly away if it is able to? I hope you can answer my questions. Thanks.

Answer
Hello,

Sorry for the slow reply - the system wasn't working yesterday.  Now, about your backyard bird's nest.  Mother birds almost never stay on their nest to try to protect their young, because there's almost no defense they could put up against any predator.  What chance would a songbird have against a cat, or a human for that matter?  Instead, they rely on camouflage and not a little bit of luck to protect their young.  They often leave the nest as soon as they spot danger, in the hope they won't lure the predator to where the nest is located.

I've seen a few exceptions, though.  For some reasons, mourning doves will often stay on the nest until I'm almost touching them.  I don't know why, since doves are even less capable of defending their nest than most birds!  In another instance, I went to inspect a robin's nest I'd visited previously.  The difference here was that it was raining.  I was surprised to see the mother robin still on the nest even as I approached within a few feet.  Apparently, the danger of the chicks getting wet was a worse one than I was!

In that case I think the reason the bird stayed at the nest so long was because she was familiar with me.  Birds will learn that a person means no harm.  So, it's okay to inspect your backyard nest on a routine basis, so long as you're quiet and get it over with quickly.  Keep the visits down to a few minutes at most, and don't invite the whole neighborhood.

Unfortunately, the chicks will almost certain take their cue from their parents and other local birds, and be just as afraid of you as they are.  This is often true even for orphaned birds that were raised by people and then released into the wild.  Once they become part of a flock, they go along with everything the flock does.

So, your visits will be limited to the time they're in the nest.  Do you have a camera?  I've always thought it neat to have photos!

- Lara