Got to watch this baby get his/her wings!
TLDR we found a fledgling American Crow that was spotted by cats after dark. Put him in a nearby tree. He grew up and learned to fly after 12 days.
The crows have recently accepted me (and my cashews) so I hope this story is okay to share.
I thought some photos of a healthy, awkward fledgling might be helpful for people to see when they, like me, might discover a fledgling on their doorstep at 10pm and are wonder if they're okay, and posts from this sub come up on their search.
They might not have all their feathers opened up yet, they might not always stand up straight and might droop their wings a bit or even hold one wing slightly lower than the other. They might seem to 'melt' into a branch in the summer heat, and close their eyes to rest. They look a bit fluffy and disheveled.
This fledgling had thought our front step was a great hiding spot to sleep for the night. We watched from a distance until it was fully dark (this was on the solstice so we waited until about 11pm) but we had already chased our neighbors cat away 3 times. Unfortunately our yard gets a lot of cats wandering around. We gently put him in a carrier and made sure the cats weren't watching, then put 'baby bird' on a lower, hidden branch of the apple tree in our back yard. The parents often hang out on the power lines near the tree so we knew they would be able to find him, and we have a 6ft fence so cats generally stay out of our back yard. We reinforced some gaps in the fence to deter cats more. In the morning, we could hear him call for his parents and they found him.
He hopped down from the tree during the day and hopped around our yard a bit. We watched from a distance from our deck and bribed the parents with peanuts and cashews so we could walk in our yard when needed.
We left him alone, and gave the parents some unsalted nuts/trailmix as they were working very hard to keep their babies safe. They hate raisins. They love cashews. They accept peanuts.
There was another night during this where this baby needed help hiding at night. Just sleeping out in the open in our yard. We observed from a distance, waited till parents went to sleep and we knew he wasn't going to find a safer place himself, and put him back up in our tree. He climbed up higher on his own. We don't have any bushes so this was the best we could do. Shortly after we did this, I went inside and saw a new cat walking up the steps to my back deck. Thid was eerie, he would have walked right into where baby bird initially settled in the the night. I ran outside and chased the cat far away. Made sure birdy was still in the tree.
After that, he mostly just stayed in the tree. We were a bit worried because he didn't always seem to move much up there (and, we had put him there). It was getting close to the 2 week mark and everything I read said it takes them 1-2 weeks. It's a massive old apple tree, huge canopy, branches go low within 3 ft of the ground and up almost to the power lines. We couldn't always see him but could hear him flapping around up there, calling his parents, garbling while they fed him.
Yesterday, 12 days after he arrived at our doorstep, I looked up and saw a strangly fluffy crow standing on the power lines in our back yard near the tree. Heard his creaky baby voice and watched as he awkwardly got his balance and flew 3 yards away to a bigger tree, roosting with his parents. I'm so proud of that little guy.
Our tree/yard might not have been the perfect spot, but neither was our doorstep that faces a house with outdoor cats. It was close to where we found him, provided cover and safety from cats while he learned to fly. We did our best with minimal intervention and only moved him if he was in clear danger or being hunted by invasive predators. Cats shouldn't be outside. Baby crows have no survival skills and they didn't evolve needing to evade domestic cats. I think we did okay. Please don't yell at me. 🥺