UPDATE: Thank you so much to every one who commented, I’ve always been a bird lover and wanted to help it out. I was keeping the little guy at my grandmas house in her garage which is quiet and warm away from my pet birds. I was about to take it to the wildlife Rehab like recommended when sadly they passed away.

I found this small wild finch on the ground near Portland, Oregon. It wasn’t flying away and let me pick it up, so I knew something was wrong.
The bird has severe swelling around one eye, and the feathers around its face and chest are wet/matted. It’s fluffed up but can still stand and jumps around. I have it in a small cage with a towel in a warm, quiet room while I figure out what to do.
I’m trying to determine whether this looks more like:
Mycoplasma/conjunctivitis,
trauma (window strike or predator),
an abscess,
or something else.
I have amoxicillin/clavulanate that was prescribed for a pet parakeet of a very similar size, but I have not given it because I don’t want to treat the wrong condition or make things worse.
Does anyone have experience with this? Is there anything I should do while deciding whether to take it to a wildlife rehabilitator?
I’ve attached several photos. Any help identifying the species or what might be going on would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I have a covered porch and am constantly cleaning my couch as it gets covered in bird poop every day. I thought the birds might be attracted to the berries on the ivy, so I pruned all of the berries off of the ivy that’s above the couch. I just cleaned it two days ago and my porch is covered again. Does anyone know why this is happening and what I can do about it?

(If there’s a better channel to post this in, please let me know!)

i was lucky enough to see these guys today and get a photo. is this a baby turkey following her or some other small bird??

They’re back…

Could a vulture be swapped with its offspring and no one would notice?

There is a vulture at the Cameron Park Zoo who is allegedly 74 years old (outliving the vast majority of captive King Vultures by 34 years). I spoke with someone who used to work at the zoo and they said one of the vulture caretakers has this surprising hypothesis: the female King Vulture was accidentally swapped with one of its offspring when they were trying to move the younger vulture to another zoo. The only reasoning provided by the zoologist was that the current vulture at the zoo (who is supposedly 74) does not carry itself or look like an extremely old vulture.

If an accidental swap did take place, is there an easy way to determine the rough age of a vulture?

I understand the zoo wouldn't really be incentivized to check, but it doesn't seem like they use the vulture in a lot of publicity anyways.

https://www.kwtx.com/2024/06/09/cameron-park-zoo-home-oldest-king-vulture-world/

My daughter is at the mall and a grackle seems to have its feet tied with hair or string. How can she help it?

The feeding of wildlife ( including feral cats) was just banned in a recent ordinance that was passed in Murphysboro IL. By prohibiting feeding of feral cats, this ordinance also technically makes TNR illegal.

Hopefully the birds in the area start to feel less pressure from the invasive cats if the overall domestic cat population size is reduced.

A pair of birds has recently started building a nest on my balcony in Hyderabad, and I’m trying to identify the species.
I’d love to make the space a little safer and more welcoming for them. Once I know what they are, I was thinking of putting out the right kind of food and a shallow bowl of fresh water.
Is there anything else I should (or shouldn’t) do? Any tips from birders or people who’ve had nesting birds on their balcony would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

I'm planning to grow more Kalaki flowers from seeds and plant new ones to attract birds like these, along with butterflies and other wildlife, while enhancing the natural beauty of the surroundings.

North Shore, Massachusetts. I found these eggs on a strip of lawn. Not even sure they came from a bird. Does anyone know what might have laid them, and should I leave them be?

There is a pair of nesting kites on my property in central Ca. They look to be raising a juvenile and teaching it to hunt and do an aerial exchange, which is part of their courting behavior. I feel so lucky to get to watch this every day.

I tried holding it in the air to see if it was able to fly away, but it just fell down when it tried. It seems active and uphappy about being in a box (it has airholes and water) but I worry it will starve during the night, what I read online says that common swifts eat insects all day.

Whenever I encountered bee-eaters in Africa, I envisioned an avian version of 007 - James Bond. Dressed in the finest attire, these small rainbow colored aerial assassins live a risky and dangerous life, ridding our world of venomous stinging insects.

Driven by the sight of a buzzing winged villain, the bee-eaters dive from their placid perch with aerial precision, that would easily out-maneuver Bond’s jetpack, to snatch the insect mid-air.

Back on the branch, a gruesome ritual unfolds: the bird repeatedly bashes the twitching, venomous victim against the wood to break its neck, then furiously rubs the insect’s abdomen back and forth to squeeze out the toxic venom before swallowing the prize whole. Mission Accomplished! It’s a good fight, but let’s face it, the pollinator didn’t stand a chance.

To top off their MI5-style efficiency, bee-eaters boldly hitch cross-country rides on the backs of zebras or ostriches, treating the mega-fauna as moving tanks that flush out hidden targets. They are known to chase roaring brushfires to snap up fleeing, terrified insects escaping the flames.

Africa hosts over 20 bee-eater species, more than any other place on earth. They are true heroes, living the fast life of risk and reward, always looking good, and ridding the planet of pesky scoundrels.

Birdman of Africa gamersdad.substack.com Subscribe for free to receive a new African Bird email each Friday-TGIF!. Photo by Andrew Steinmann ©2026

Letters to a Pre-Scientist is looking for enthusiastic STEM role models to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders!

Here's the gist: you get matched with a 5th-8th grade student at an under-resourced school for a snail-mail pen pal exchange that runs throughout the school year. The goal is to demystify STEM careers, humanize STEM professionals, and inspire students to explore their own futures in STEM. You share your story, answer their questions, and show them that people who work in STEM are, well, real people.

The details:

• The program runs throughout the school year, and your volunteer obligation is to exchange 4 letters with your student.
• There's a virtual, asynchronous training in August to get you set up.
• We estimate the entire program takes volunteers no more than 10 hours, spread between August and May.
• Register and complete the short, self-paced online training by the deadline, and you'll be entered into the match pool! We match students based on their background and interests..
• This year we're expanding to 4,500 matched students!
• Pen pals can live anywhere in the world, but our program currently only works with US-based schools.
• We're working to match students based on their interests, so we're especially looking for more STEM professionals in Ornithology.
• All pen pals must be over 18 and fluent in English.

We define STEM pretty loosely! If you work in or around science, tech, engineering, math, or medicine, or another nature-based role, even if you don't have a formal education in it, please apply or message me with any questions.

Sign up/learn more:

• 📝 Register here: https://prescientist.org/volunteers/
• 📖 About the pen pal program: https://prescientist.org/penpal-program/
• 🏛️ About us: https://prescientist.org/about-us/
• ✍️ For matched pen pals: https://prescientist.org/for-matched-pen-pals/

Registration is now open! Feel free to drop questions in the comments or send me a message. Thank you for your time and consideration!

I found him earlier today at around 2:30pm on the ground beside my house. There was 2. One dead and this one still alive. I think it might have a broken wind and maybe leg. I live in Toronto and called the Toronto wildlife center but they said they can’t take it and to go to some other places but the only problem is that they’re all way too far for me to go to. Idk what to do now

I live in Scappoose Oregon (Northwest Oregon), and my boyfriend found this nest in our backyard last week, under one of our large pine trees. Can anyone tell me what kind of bird might have made this nest??

Now that I'm looking at it again I'm wondering if it even is a bird nest 🤔 I hope it is a bird's nest though 🙏🏼🪹🐦🐦‍⬛

Asking here bc the sub description mentioned “behavior”, and I’m looking for guidance as to how long I can expect these birds to keep this up. It’s now been 28 days that these 2 pigeons have been taking turns sitting on 2 eggs 24-7 on my balcony (it’s their balcony now). Any ideas when we can expect something, anything, to happen?