I’ll never forget the time that my family and I went on a nature walk one day. And yes, that’s my parents’ idea of “family bonding.” We walked along a trail in a reserve, when we stumbled across a baby bird. The first thing that curious 8-year-old me thought to do, was obviously pick it up. Just as I was cupping the bird in my hands, my parents yelled, “Don’t pick it up!” I had already been holding it, and after they explained to me that the mother would abandon this baby bird because I touched it, the happy 8-year-old from five minutes ago became the saddest 8-year-old in the entire world.
Of course, years ago, I listened to my parents and believed every word they said. Now, I’m a teenager and that’s not the cool thing to do anymore. So, I had to look into this “fact” a little more. Is it true that birds abandon their young if touched by humans? Frank B. Gill, the former president of the American Ornithologists’ Union, claims that this myth is not true, and that birds do not abandon their babies due to human touch. He states, “If a bird’s nest is disturbed by a potential predator during the nesting or egg-laying stage, there’s a possibility that [the bird] will desert and re-nest. However, once the young are hatched and feeding, [their parents are] by and large pretty tenacious.” This belief comes from the thought that birds can identify the smell of humans, when in reality, birds don’t really have that great of an ability to recognize scent. Miyoko Chu, a biologist at Cornell, says that, “Birds don’t have a very strong sense of smell, so you won’t leave a scent that will alarm the parent.” Birds have extremely simple nerves, minimizing their sense of smell, which is why they cannot smell humans.
Regardless of the fact that birds will not abandon their young after being touched by a human, people should still avoid touching baby birds and nests. If you see a bird on the ground, leave it undisturbed. But, if a baby bird falls out of its’ nest and is having trouble getting back in, there’s no harm in helping it out a little.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-birds-abandon-young-at-human-touch/
http://www.livescience.com/33620-baby-bird-touch-mother-abandon.html
http://www.windward.org/notes/notes72/daniela7204.htm
I really liked this post. Something like this happened to me when I was little too! We found baby bunnies that had dug themselves a little hole in the grass and me and my sisters really wanted to play with them, but my mom told us not to because the mother bunny could be coming back anytime soon and would not want anyone else touching them and she could get angry. This makes me wonder if my mom wasn’t telling the whole truth either! I agree that if birds do not have a good sense of smell then they should not be able to tell who has been with their children, just like how humans can’t tell by smell if they have been with someone.
That’s very interesting! I was raised growing up to believe that birds lost their moms when they were touched by humans from school teachers and my parents as well. However I didn’t know that they don’t have a strong sense of smell which would back up that fact that they re-nest. If they don’t have a good sense of smell they are sometimes unable to relocate their family. It is pleasing to here though that their mother won’t leave them behind!