So… you’ve found a wild animal that you think needs rescuing. Maybe there are no parents to be seen, and the baby is orphaned. Maybe it is injured, and needs help from a wildlife rehabilitator.
But what if it isn’t a baby? Here are some tips to help you identify baby birds, mammals, and reptiles that you may encounter.
Baby birds are not completely feathered. Baby birds are also wobbly when on the ground. If you find a bird on the ground who is completely feathered, it is probably a fledgling. Check the tail — no tail is probably a baby and a short tail is probably a fledgling. Don’t worry about a fledgling (unless there is a cat or other predator nearby); the parents will care for him until he learns to fly. This can take a week or more.
Baby mammals typically look like adults, just smaller. Baby mammals have shorter hair, especially on their tails. Need a mental picture? Think of a puppy and an adult dog, or a kitten and an adult cat. The babies have short coats and short tail hair until they are several months old. Most mammals are born in the spring and are independent by the fall. There are some exceptions to that rule — some mammals have two litters yearly, one in the early spring and one in the early fall.
Baby reptiles are tricky… unless they’re still in the egg. Growth rate for baby reptiles depends on the amount of food available as they grow. So a very small turtle could be several years old, but a very large snake could be relatively young. Don’t worry too much about rescuing orphaned reptiles — they are independent from the time they are hatched. Unless you find an obviously injured reptile, leave it alone.
In general, it is best to leave the wild in the wild. Unless an animal is injured — bleeding, limping, shaking, etc — you should probably leave it alone.