Kristin Bauer Instagram – So I found this baby black capped #chickadee on the busy side walk with two cats two feet away watching him/her & I had my dogs on leash w/ me. I didn’t know what to do!! So I scooped him up in my hand & put him in a box and called the @audubonsociety & left a message (they never called back). I then called @dovelewispdx – a vet hospital that says they also handle wild animals. I was on hold for an hour & then she said he’s a fledgling & this is normal & to put him back in the tree in a strawberry box. I tried. He jumped out of it in 1.6 seconds & was back on the ground. I got the immediate neighbors to bring their cats in but everyone in portland lets their cats out 😠, & they are everywhere. Yesterday I saw a cat get a baby bird while the parents dive bombed the cat. 😭 So I kept putting the little guy back in the tree on the lowest branch. I saw the parents coming to feed him. This is a very busy sidewalk w/ dogs, skateboards, strollers & he was very hard to see. For a long time he had stayed in the tree & was fed & he slept. I went to check on him at midnight & he was lying in the dirt, splayed out on his face & looked dead. 😵 I brought him back in & put him in the box in a rag made nest & would call the vet again in the morning. I could see he was rhythmically jerking. He was alive, barely. In the morning he was dead. 😭 I buried him & said a few words. I don’t think the advice I got was 💯 correct. I googled the crap out of it & they all said don’t move them unless they are in danger from cats, if so put them back in the nest (I had climbed the tree up 12 feet high-no nest), or on a higher branch. their best chance is with the parents. I saw the parents. This poor little dude was days from being able to fly. I can’t see how he would have made it at this busy spot on the ground! Not with so many cats, dogs, pedestrians, strollers…. But he also had to fall from that tree over & over! That can’t have been right. it also said online Do not move them far from the parents, but the only shrubs were not terribly close. Next time I’ll barricade the area & protect him on the ground! #babybird