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dead baby birds ID

12 years ago

Hi all, my sil found these 2 babies on her deck. She saw a nest on top of the air conditioning unit overhead. There is a large size difference, making me wonder if one died earlier, or perhaps they are different kinds of birds. Is it possible to identify what they are at this early stage of development? thanks. The location is Suffolk County on Long Island in New York.

{{!gwi}}

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Comments (4)

Elly_NJ
12 years ago
Awwww. Poor babies. The bigger one hatched a few days before the little one, I think.

House sparrows.
bbcathy
12 years ago
The bigger one could be a cowbird. They grow a lot faster that the other babies.
Cathy
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dead baby birds about 15 ft from birdhouse
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Comments (2)
Catherinet is right -- I bet it's house sparrows. They will not only kill baby birds, they will trap adults (bluebirds and tree swallows) in a bird house and kill them before they make a nest. The house sparrow will then build their own nest on top of the dead body. Believe me, I've had it happen in my own yard. When we moved to the country we put up too many bird houses and the sparrows moved in. They are NOT protected, so do your best to kill the adults and eliminate their eggs because they will destroy your songbird population. You can do a google search to learn how to identify their nests and eggs so you can eliminate them. House wrens will fly into a birdhouse that has bluebird or tree sparrow eggs laid and will then use it's beak to pierce the eggs to destroy them. House wrens are a protected species, so you can't kill them but their nests are easy to identify because they fill bird houses with tiny sticks. Clean them out over and over and do your best to discourage them because they, too, will destroy your bluebird and tree sparrow populations.
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Please I.D. dead bird
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Comments (2)
Juvenile Common Gallinule
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Can you please ID this baby bird?
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Comments (12)
Yes, he looks just like the pictures at the link Patti posted. The feeder has a little cup of grape jelly between the oranges. I'm hopeful...... :-) The baby bird hadn't mastered flying when I was looking at him. I went in the house to process these pictures and post my question, and when I went back outside he had disappeared. Do birds suddenly "get" flying? Or do you think maybe his parents encouraged him to go somewhere else? We've had a nest of baby house wrens in a birdhouse hanging from the porch. They all managed to leave without me seeing their flying lessons. I see them around, though. And hear them! There's a catbird next in a big mulberry bush. I never knew catbirds had such a beautiful song. And, as always, robins and phoebes are nesting in my garage. With so many interesting things going on around the property, I hate to leave for work!
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Baby birds dead, do I remove nest material for mother or leave it? Thx
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Comments (2)
Just remove the nest. The female will most likely not come back and reuse the same nest since it failed.
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troutwind
12 years ago
Yeah, I was thinking a species of nest parasite because of the disparity in size. It might have been trying to push its smaller nest mate out of the nest and got carried away with its pushing.
starlinka
12 years ago
Some species have asynchronous hatching.

Here is a link that might be useful: Asynchronous hatching

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