Hi Birdwatchers!

Hope all of you had a great Mother's Day! Being a mom is a tough job, and no one knows this better than mother birds - building a nest, laying eggs, incubating, feeding young from dawn to dusk, protecting them from weather and predators, often without any help from dad. It's exhausting! Any of you that have been following the online nestcams have probably witnessed some of the challenges birds face.

The Cornell Red-tailed Hawk babies (above) were born during a late snow storm. The Great Blue Heron mom has been attacked by a Great Horned Owl while on the nest. Phoebe the hummingbird has lost several eggs to Crows. Nature can seem cruel, but it does ensure the survival of the fittest. And birds are tougher than they look. We receive many phone calls this time of year from well-meaning folks that find baby birds and feel the urge to "help" them. While there are times that baby birds do need our assistance, more often we do more harm than good by intervening. If a nest has blown down, or naked hatchlings have fallen from the nest, by all means, put them back in the nest, or secure their nest in a basket and place it as close as possible from where it fell. And if a bird has an obvious injury, please seek help.

It's important to remember that many baby birds leave the nest before they can fly. They are fully feathered and can hop or grasp a branch by this point, and will learn to fly in a matter of days as they stretch their wings and get stronger. The parents are still feeding and watching over them. The best way to help is to give them space and keep pets and children away. Raising baby birds is very difficult, and illegal unless you are a properly trained and licensed rehabber. Even then, the chances of survival are not high.