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How long do jackdaws take to fly? (1 Viewer)

I've got a fledgling jackdaw chick in my garden. He (?) still has a bit of fluff underneath, wing and tail feathers are in but not full-length yet. The SSPCA says don't feed him, just give him water, as hunger will encourage him to fly. However, he seems to be managing perfectly well to find food at ground level, mainly by digging up and eating the grass seed which I laid down last week.

It's been three days and although I see the chick every day, I haven't seen any sign of him even trying to use his wings. Meanwhile I need to get on with working in the garden - but don't want to scare him.

How long should it normally take for a fledging, walking-about jackdaw to learn to use his wings? At what point should I start to worry that something is wrong with him?

The garden is relatively predator-proof btw, as the only way in or out at ground level is through/under a gate, round the corner and along an alley which opens onto the pavement of a main road. We have some kind of small rodent who picks small holes in the bottom of bags of seed but it looks like the work of a mouse or vole, not a rat. We do have a resident shrew - but a jackdaw would be a very ambitious kill for a shrew.

Oh, and also, how much of a run-up do they need when first learning to use their wings? The garden is only about 20ft square, walled on all sides - is this going to be big enough?
 
Sounds to me like he's left the nest a tad prematurely. Have you seen any adults about feeding him and the like? Usually they can fly as soon as they leave the nest, if for no other reason that they normally have to fly to get out and down to ground level. The ones that fledge from my chimney and my neighbours can all fly straight away (they need to as the local Carrion crows will kill and eat them given half a chance). They don't need any 'run up' and can lift straight up if required.

If yours is being attended by adults just leave him be and let nature take its course. If he has been abandoned (no adults seen for 24 hours) then I'd suggest you try to capture and take him to a rehab centre..... unless you want a pet jackdaw of course. (nor recommended!)

Also I'd say get on with your gardening - he might never leave if there's plenty of food and no disturbance! They are pretty resilient.

Just my thoughts - not to be taken as professional advice!

Mick
 
Well if he/she has shelter out of the full sun can get water and food you,ll have a friend for life haha may hang around for a while they have a fondness for collecting Items that sparkle or shine or takes their fancy.. as far as take off goes nature will kick in and that will be it, sparrowhawks would be the biggest foe if the jackdaw can lay low/or keep in cover whenever possible his/her chances are Increased not sure about other corvids being a threat but its best bet is being quite and not to draw attention and thats with any fledgeling if it wants to get to adult hood and as long as you can keep cats out or foxes it has a reasonable chance of survival.
 
Thank you both. The village where I live, Slamannan, is ground central for a medium-sized flock of jackdaws. As an experiment I once timed how long I could look out of my bedroom window for and not see a jackdaw, and the highest I got to iirc was 37 seconds. There seem to be four or five adults living in the eaves of the buildings surrounding my tiny garden. I haven't specifically seen any of them feeding this baby, but there's a lot of squonk-squonk calling going on, so I presume some of these resident adults are the parents.

There are plenty of things he can hide under and the garden only gets full sun in the morning, so he should be OK as far as that goes. But it's a bit barren out there, because it's only in the past few weeks that I took up the gravel which covered the garden before and started putting in soil, grass, raised beds etc and at the moment it's mainly just earth. But with a surprising number of crunchy millipedes in it.

I wouldn't mind having a pet jackdaw - I've done a lot of pigeon and hedgehog rescue in the past. But my pet rats (not to mention my landlord) might have Views.

I would be surprised if cats, foxes or sparrowhawks would come into the garden because it is so small, and surrounded by walls (including the three-storey building I live in) on all sides. A cat or a fox would have to come via the main road, and probably wouldn't know there's a garden here at all, and a sparrowhawk trying to dive into such a small space would be risking splatting itself. My only concern is wild rats - especially as I live above a fish and chip shop, and I've seen a rat-hole in the loos of the pub over the road.
 
Day four and he's still there and still showing no sign of flying. On the plus side he doesn't seem to be getting any weaker, so he's evidently still finding enough crunchy millipedes, and the presumed parents swear at me if I go near him.

At least, if he's going to be becalmed somewhere my garden is pretty safe. Looking at it I don't think a fox could even get in, because the gate is 6ft high and only has a 3" gap at the bottom. Even a cat would find it challenging.
 
How long do jackdaws take to fly.

Hi, keep in touch and let us know how the young jackdaw is doing they are Intelligent birds thou I think all corvids are quite bright.
 
He's still out there - it's been six days now. On the plus side, he's been lurking in a stack of pallets, propped up against the fence on their sides, and today he was sitting on the middle bar, about 18" up. It's a little far for him to have hopped or scrambled, so that suggests he may be starting to try his wings.

Despite what the SSPCA said about not feeding him because hunger would impel him to fly, I'm concerned that he's not getting enough food and that's why he's not strong enough to fly - he does look a bit scrawny. So I put out a couple of mini spring rolls for him.
 
I,m pleased he,s ok I know you mention how private it is and how predators would find it difficult to get in there but any squawks and sounds he makes will carry in the air or wind sooner the little chap gets airborne the better thou while he,s unexperienced he will be at times vulnerable you have to except all these things in the real world his journey is only just beginging.
 
Now, I can't find him today, day 7. This may not be as good as it sounds because overnight some bastard flytipper has filled my tiny garden with a mattress, six tyres and two bicycles, and I've had to call in the police. I hope the bird has flown and not been killed - however they don't appear to have gone near the stack of pallets where he usually resides, so I'm hoping he's found his wings and flown off. He's pecked open both the spring rolls I put out for him and eaten about half, and the adults aren't hanging around the edge of the roofs and squonking any more.
 
Yes hopefully he,s flown just in time it sounds, people that fly tip should be fined and sent to prison in my mind especially the ones you had I,ve seen the mess they leave it attracts other undesireables like the ones that steal vehicles then burn them out afterwards which is a practice that never goes away I remember it back in the 80,s and up to present times in same area and similar locations.
 
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