Baby bird lessons

It's that time of year when baby birds are everywhere, and many of them are not being all that smart.  They're still learning how to be safe.  Often I have visits from curious young birds when I'm refilling a bird bath or feeder.   They flitter up, whisper-like, and light on something quite near.  If I become motionless, they'll stay for a bit, and may begin to consider me part of their environment.  Much as I love being that close to birds, I don't think it's a good thing for them.  I want young birds to have a healthy respect for humans and to learn to keep a safe distance.  We're not all wonderful people, after all.  So I usually say 'Sorry, little one', and make an abrupt move, not at them, but adequate to cause them to flitter away in alarm.
A very young siskin actually collided with our bedroom window yesterday.  The curtains were still closed, so he must have just not been paying attention~ just like a kid.  I opened the slider and he was resting on his belly on the wood deck, eyes open, breathing, but clearly stunned.  These little ones are SO little and light that often they luck out and do not sustain a permanent injury, such as a broken wing, or worse, broken neck.  I picked up this weightless bit of warm life and gently moved each wing.  They seemed to be correctly folded, not drooping, no open wounds.  I oh-so-gently moved his head and he seemed to have tone in his neck: his head didn't just droop down.  The best thing to do with birds like this is to put them in a quiet, safe place for 20 or so minutes.  Don't try to feed or water them, they won't need it in the short time they'll be with you and it can be very traumatic for them.
  I put a paper towel in a small box, and put the open box in a warm, protected place on the deck where I could eyeball him every few minutes.   Birds, like people, can be stunned by a blow to the head.  They may just need time.  Luckily, this is what happened with this little guy.  After about 15 minutes, I moved to lift him out of the box and he quickly hopped to the side and perched.  I moved away and he stayed there briefly, then hopped farther out, then he wobbily but successfully flew to a nearby rhododendron.   I checked later and he was gone.  I hope he made it.  Our kitty is an inside cat and I saw no neighborhood predators around. You never know though.    I've read that only one in ten nestlings make it to their first birthday.  Pretty tough odds.  But that's why adult birds breed like crazy, often raising three broods in one compressed season.  How exhausting.

Again, I see the siskins chattering away in the holly tree in the front yard and I hope he's in there, telling his buddies of his great escape.