HELP baby robin issue (1 Viewer)

First off I'd like to state that I was not able to find a rehabilitator in my area But I found a baby robin that seemed to be knocked out of its nest. I couldn't locate the nest, so I kept an eye on it from a nearby window for a few hours and no sign of the mother anywhere and this little guy was squawking like crazy! Eventually my heart gave in and I took him inside and from then on Ive been caring for him. its been about two weeks now that I have had him and the last week hes been living outside free to roam and is finally getting the hang of flying. My concern now is that he is a very friendly bird He follows everyone around, hangs around on the ground near the house, has no fears, and im extremely concerned and feel awful for even taking him in now. He is learning to eat on his own and he is free to sleep in the trees outside. He digs around in our garden looking for insects and worms and hes been doing quite well with it! but Im really desperate on how to wean him from his "tamed" behavior. PLEASE can anyone help me out here on how to turn him into a more cautious wild bird? Again, I apologize that I took him in, bare with me please.

Okay, stop beating yourself up. You were trying to do the right thing.

Give it enough time and he will learn to develop a healthy fear of what it thinks is something to be afraid of. I would cease any type of human contact at this point. Hopefully, there are no loose cats around.

Please keep us posted on his maturing and oh, a warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at BirdForum :t:

Hi rmi and a warm welcome from me too.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I hope to hear about all the birds you see when out and about. Please let us know how you get on.

Hello and welcome to the forum, enjoy and good luck with your Robin.

Welcome to BirdForum! I am sure you will find lots to interest you here, and I hope you enjoy your visits.

This is difficult as he/she has become 'imprinted' on humans as providers and parents. I'm not a professional in this sphere but I think you just have to avoid contact with the bird as much as possible. Naturally juvenile birds become independent soon. His/her comfort with humans will translate to other predators so he/she is more prone to predation than other birds, but the lottery of who lives/gets eaten is quite perverse so you never know.

I'd suggest you keep a low profile, leave the bird alone as much as possible and hope for the best!

You have done really well getting it this far. Remember most juveniles die in their first year in nature ....

Mick

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I have great news! Thursday I had to leave for a horse show and wouldn't be returning until late Saturday night, I just went into panic mode about the bird that I had to leave him for so long without his assisted care. My brother was home during that duration and is constantly outside and he said the bird didn't even come around (before, he followed you around everywhere and you had to be extremely cautious). I feared the worse though, but I thought I'd try whistling to him. To my surprise I heard its chirping out in the distance! Maybe 20-40ft away! And then I went out this morning to look, and luckily he was in my neighbors garden along our fence! He was still learning what he could and could not eat as he was picking buds off their hanging pot haha! But I whistled and he didn't even reply back, he soon crossed into our yard, looking for grubs and worms and I approached him and thankfully he flew off a little. And then slowly did it again and he took off very far into another tree. I cant believe how quickly he just stopped associating with humans! But I'm extremely glad though. Hes changed so much too since ive seen him. He still has his little black flecks on his chest and some white in the tail but much more mature looking. Im really proud I was actually able to get him this far after reading so many negative things on the internet. Definitely was a lot of hard work but I'm glad it paid off. Hopefully now he'll go on to live a wonderful wild life

Great news indeed rmi.

Very well done getting him to this stage and thanks for letting us know.