I just found a wild finch outside in my yard. It has all of it's adult feathers but it can't fly more than a couple of inches off the ground. i don't know if it's a fledgeling and if so, will it know how to eat seed on it's own?

Fledgeling on wild finiches here have a little tuft of feathers off the top of their heads.

They are popping babies everywhere here cuz it has warmed up.

anyway of getting a picture.maybe??
I had one of the wild finches a couple of years ago and put it in a cage gave it water and seed and kept it warm. to no avail. they are such timid birds here they are anyway that they sometimes dont survive any kind of shock or trauma.

I do hope things go well for the little one.

I looked this up first...
I helped out a baby sparrow this summer. It grew up really fast in slightly over a week it had it's adult feathers all out. It flew away quite handily unfortunately, as I was sure it wasn't completely weaned when it left.

As you said it isn't flying well ... it brings up a red flag. It may not be weaned 100% or it might be dehydrated. It could also be sick or hit a car or building or something.

I fed the baby sparrow a mixture of cat food & baby food. I cut a plastic straw diagonally to create a small spoon end & fed it. After about 2 feedings it was very eager to get more. The first few feedings were mainly water.


good luck - hope someone else can help - Arty is away for a few days.

He ate a little seed on his own so I think he will be alright. He is a Chaffinch and looks like an adult, but really can't fly. I don't want to set him loose because we have to cats we use to keep mice away but they also prey on any small birds and this one would be killed in a matter of minutes. Here is a picture of the breed. My digital doesn't work right now, but this is exactly what he looks like.

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300px-Fringilla_coelebs_chaffinch_male_edit2.jpg (26.6 KB, 13 views)

I wouldn't release him untill you are sure he is eating well and is flighted.

Just don't keep him in a regular size cage, get a large flight cage instead and put natural tree branches in it (more in one corner -up near the top- than the rest of the cage so he feels he can hide in there). And even though it will be real hard, do try not to interact at all with him... if you can, put him in a room where nobody ever goes because it's really not good for wild birds to lose their fear of people.

I saw that type on the site - a really handsome bird.

Hope he recovers whatever injury or illness has him down. HOpe he can be released soon.