Putting baby back

Every spring rehabilitation centers are filled with young birds of every species and description. One of the easiest and most successful methods to deal with these is to put them back into the wild either with their own parents or with foster parents of the same species. The following article outlines methods to do this. This solution not only eases the stress on the rehabilitation center during "baby season", but mole importantly gives the youngsters a better chance when reared by an adult of its own species in natural habitat. While artificial rehabilitation methods can be successful with young birds, rehabilitators can never be as successful at rearing them as are the natural parents. The ethics of replacement of rejected young and natural mortality will be discussed.