Your answer
Its family is close. Give them room and they will find each other.
Chicks like this leave the nest within a day of hatching and stay on the move with a parent, which keeps them warm and leads them to food. One that seems to be alone usually is not. It froze or scattered when you arrived, and the parent is calling from cover or trying to lead you away, sometimes by pretending to have a broken wing, as a killdeer does. People standing close are what keeps the family apart.
What to do right now
- 01Move well back, at least thirty feet or out of sight, and keep children with you.
- 02Keep cats inside and dogs leashed until the family has moved on.
- 03Watch quietly for up to an hour. Most families regroup within minutes once people leave.
- 04If the family is crossing a road, slow traffic only where it is safe for you, and let them cross in their own time.
What not to do
- Do not chase it or try to catch it. A chick running from you is running away from its family too.
- Do not put it in a box or look for a nest to put it in. It does not live in one.
- Do not feed it anything, or put it in water.
Change your mind if any of this is true
Any one of these changes the answer above. Call a rehabilitator instead.
- No adult comes or calls within an hour of quiet watching.
- It is wet and shivering, or lies still with its eyes closed.
- A cat or dog touched it, however briefly.
- It cannot stand, or a leg or wing hangs at a wrong angle.
Get professional help
Tell us where you are — your state, then your county — and we will list the people licensed to take it there, nearest to you first. Rehabilitators are licensed by their own state, which is why we ask.
Understand the animal
Knowing why this happens is what makes the next one easier to read.