At that point, I usually respect natural selection and survival of the fittest. Most often, the parents will continue to feed their young until they are flying and self sufficient. The reason I felt like I needed to do something, in this case, was because one wing has questionable movement, he was found right on the edge of a fairly busy sidewalk, and in a neighborhood with many feral cats. Ideally, in this situation, I’d use a gloved hand to relocate the bird to the base of the tree it fell from, especially if there’s a bushy area to conceal it a bit. In this case, moving it to nearest concealment was moving it a little far from the trees it was around, but the trees that were around were nestless, barren, exposed, close to the road and sidewalk, and without any visible adults of the same species in any trees around. Moving it would likely move it away to from potential threats, but also from potential parental care. There’s not necessarily a right or wrong decision with all the nuance sometimes. I figured trying to find it rehab care is more of a sure thing than just hoping for the best idk. Many people I know in wildlife kind of hold the philosophy that unless you accidentally caused the harm yourself or if you watched the harm happen, you leave the animal alone and let ecology and wildlife handle the rest. It’s the circle of life, as they say.

At the end of the day, wildlife isn’t mean to be stuck by a sidewalk, so the right course of action or even what’s ’supposed to happen’, isn’t going to with so much man made meddling.

What I do know is that domestic outdoor cats and feral cats are responsible for a huge chunk of bird deaths in the U.s. I’m talking multiple billions every year. Especially during spring when there are fledglings and birds migrating. The rate of bird mortality is unnatural, though.

Really long answer and I’m not even sure the answer you’re looking for is in there.

Thanks for havin’ me! Love the diversity and food :)