How to teach a baby bird to fly

It is inconceivable that an earthbound creature can know how to teach a baby bird to fly. When I found a fledgling bird on the ground by the roadside, that is exactly what I did.

If you asked me how do baby birds learn to fly, or how long does it take baby birds to to fly, I would have had no idea. But a chance encounter with a stranded fledgeling Common Myna following a storm, meant I had to learn fast to save the bird’s life.

Helping injured or sick birds

I’ve rescued many birds

I am not an ornithologist, but I’ve rescued so many birds since I was a teenager, I have almost lost count.

I started with two jackdaws which were a lot of fun and became good pets. When I let them fly free they stayed quite a long time until they eventually flew off.

There were pigeons, sparrows, a common myna, a penguin and a cormorant, that I can remember.

Sea Birds in Cape Town

The penguin was the biggest problem. I found him on a West Coast beach walk in Cape Town and had to carry him two kilometres back to my car. Not only are penguins heavy, but this one pecked at me all the way. If I hadn’t been such an amiable sort, I would have left him behind to snuff it. Anyway, I managed to get him to SANCOB bird hospital, after he did a number on the upholstery, where he was diagnosed with malaria and thankfully not leprosy. I visited him a few times, not sure whether to take grapes or flowers. The vet suggested fish would be best. Anyway he made a full recovery.

I also found the cormorant on his last legs, sitting in a trance on the rocks at Blaauberg in Cape Town. He was heavy but put up less of a fight. SANCOB did their best but he had malaria too and unfortunately didn’t last long.

Birds in a Storm

In our need to protect ourselves from the damage storms during the monsoon can inflict, it is easy to overlook the plight of helpless wildlife that lives with us in our daily lives. Trees provide refuge and homes for many creatures, and like our own homes, they are subjected to the ravages of wind and rain which can tear them limb from limb. This is, of course, all a part of the natural world and unless you accidentally come across a stranded fledgling bird on the roadside, as I did, you may not be aware of how much wildlife can be lost in a big storm.

Can humans learn how to teach a baby bird to fly? It may be an odd question. But when I found the fledgling by the road, that is exactly what I did. I rescued a baby Common Myna after a storm. Fed her until she was strong enough. Then helped her until she could fly and take care of herself.

What happened when I found a fledgling on the ground in need of help

I walked through the adjoining villages after a stormy night, avoiding fallen branches as I followed the river bank path. Then I nearly trod on a helpless baby bird which looked to all the world like a leaf on the roadside. I assumed she must have been blown out of her nest and she may have had brothers and sisters, for all I knew.

There was no sign of other birds and she lay motionless. I thought she was dead, but when I picked her up there were signs of life. I cradled her in my hand, carried her home and made a little nest in the house.

She lay there quietly for several hours, appearing to be uninjured, just exhausted and weak. I prepared a ‘cordon bleu’ meal of overripe banana and water which I administered drop by drop via a syringe.

How long does it take baby birds to fly?

Birds fly as effortlessly as fish swim and mammals walk. But when they hatch, how do baby birds learn to fly. I was about to find out that, like walking, flying involves trial and error, crash landings and practice. Learning how to take off, land and use the wind takes time, but soon becomes natural.

So, a fledgling bird by the roadside, as this one was, may be a baby bird beginning its life on earth. I didn’t know where baby birds go when they leave the nest. And if I hadn’t been ignorant of how the bird world works, I may have thought it did not need to be rescued.

Fledgling birds can appear to be injured or sick. They may have jumped or been pushed by parents from the nest, which is normal for many species. So, how long does it take for birds to fly?

Since the rescue I learned it can take up to three weeks, and the parents may feed the fledgling on the ground, every ten minutes or so in the process. In which case it is not necessary to interfere with nature, even though the fledgling is an obvious target for predators, such as rats, snakes, and domestic animals.

But it was after a storm and common-sense told me otherwise, and in my ignorance I may have saved her life. I had to learn how to teach a bird to fly, or at least try.

A successful recovery

She recovered slowly and by the second day she was eating well, chuntering away and quite lively. It didn’t take long to think of a name for her. Myn seemed appropriate, so Myn it was.

I didn’t know how to teach a bird to eat, so I added some freshly cooked sweetcorn to Myn’s diet which went down very well but was quickly regurgitated. So that was taken off the menu and replaced by rice and sweet mango, which stayed down successfully.

How to teach a baby bird to eat on its own

Feeding time was a frantic affair and an almost continual process for many days as she grew quickly.  A bird’s food processing system is so quick it seems to go in one end and out the other without stopping on the way. A slight exaggeration maybe, but not far from the truth.

Within a couple of days, I learned a new language – Bird. She let me know that she wanted to have a go at climbing trees and hopping around the garden. I worked it out fairly quickly. I would have taken the incessant squawking for hunger if I hadn’t just fed her. Abortive attempts at flying culminated in many crash landings. Impatience and a youthful desire for independence overwhelmed her.

She had recovered fully.

Learning to fly

Back to the question. How do baby birds learn to fly? I never expected to have to teach a bird to fly so I had to find out. I Googled away and found out it takes between twenty and thirty days from hatching before Mynas can fly and become independent.

So it wasn’t long before I enrolled Myn in my beginner’s course for trainee pilots.  On her makeshift perch above the grass runway, the budding aeronautical genius prepared for her first take-off.

How to teach a baby bird to fly – Airborne at last

Myn’s lungs nearly burst with screeching, as she revved her engine up to full throttle. All was set. With wings flapping manically and all the controls checked, she took off. In her haste and my cry of ‘chocks away.’ But I didn’t tell her when to release her grip on the perch. She left it too late and nosedived into the runway. She wasn’t amused when I laughed. This was serious business. Myn crash-landed several times before she got the hang of it. When she worked out how and when to let go of the perch things moved along much faster.

Despite several amusing episodes, I could only admire her tenacity and persistence. I never resorted to laughter again. Even at such a young age, she was far more accomplished than any human could ever be. I had found the answer to the question, how do baby birds learn to fly? They practice like baby humans learning to walk.

I like to think I had taught a baby bird to fly. But in reality, I couldn’t teach a bird to fly, but I could protect her while she taught herself. Just like my mother protected me when I learned to walk.

Myn was soon an accomplished aviator and free as a bird (sometimes she imagined she was human) she came and went as she pleased. Mynas are scavengers and my food must have tasted better than hers, as she often stole it from under my nose.

Back to nature

Myn went back to nature as soon as she was ready. Myna’s mate for life, so I hope she found a good husband and she’s taking care of him and her babies.

I’ll never forget her. I just hope she gives me a thought from time to time.

This is how the parents teach a baby bird to fly

Final Thoughts

Most close encounters humans have with other living creatures, affect us in some way. My time with Myn had a greater effect than most, and it moved me to weave it into the final novel of my first fiction series, Alfie Goes to Thailand. The novel is called A Million Roman Candles and the series is a story of human challenge, manipulation, rejection, abuse, and a search for peace.

If you like thought-provoking drama, romantic tragedies, and damaged characters, then you’ll love the tropical sauna and wry humour of POST- IT NOTES and the other books in this Psychological Thriller series. Starved of love and affection for far too long, it came at Alfie from all sides. When you are led to the well after a long drought, the temptation to drink it dry is powerful.

Alfie’s adventures hot up, as a conniving Mother and her wicked daughters, plot his downfall. The dangers are exacerbated by crooked builders, and rogue property traders, exposing him to a hair-raising ride through Thailand. There are shades of David Copperfield just when he thinks he’s landed safely…

Read about Alfie Goes to Thailand and get the books at Amazon.

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