The health crisis will have served as an electric shock. Never have the French people expressed such a desire to reconnect with nature and observe the flora and fauna that surround them. The Île Grande Bird Protection League (LPO) station, located near the Sept-Îles reserve (Côtes-d’Armor), can attest to this. Since the arrival of spring, it has been inundated with calls from individuals notifying them of the presence of juvenile gulls in a street, a garden or a park. Fearing for their survival, many are tempted to pick up these fallen chicks and bring them back to the LPO station.
Baby birds that have fallen from the nest: what to do?
In the majority of cases, do not intervene and leave the chicks on the ground!
-> https://t.co/Whl6L9GjqP pic.twitter.com/ZKWc4fdcTa– BatProject🦇 (@Chauves_Souris) May 4, 2020
Even if the intention is laudable, it often turns out to be useless and even counterproductive. Because “these animals are not necessarily in distress”, underlines Romain Morinière, director of the station. A few days after their birth, the young gulls indeed leave their nests to roam the ground a few weeks before taking off. So do not be afraid for them because during this phase of emancipation, their parents continue to feed and protect them. “This is the case for gulls but also for a great many species of birds”, specifies Romain Morinière.
Check if the bird is injured or if there is an immediate danger
To avoid the untimely collection of juvenile gulls, the LPO teams therefore carry out awareness-raising work with the general public. “When people call us, we first try to analyze the situation,” emphasizes the director. We want to know if the animal is injured or if there is an immediate danger for it such as the presence of a predator or a very busy road. In this case, we ask them to move it a few tens of meters ”.
Unless the bird is injured, it must therefore be left at the place of its discovery. But despite the messages repeated each year, some individuals thinking they were doing the right thing still brought perfectly healthy chicks back to the LPO care center.
Healthy chicks take the place of injured birds
This is why the Ile Grande resort has been saturated for a few days with more than a hundred animals welcomed. “There is no longer a place available at the care center and we therefore find ourselves unable to accommodate animals that are in distress,” deplores Romain Morinière. Feeding young birds is also very time consuming, it is extremely time consuming for the volunteers ”.
The management of the Ile Grande resort therefore calls on individuals not to panic too much at the sight of these chicks on the ground. “It is difficult for some to understand, but sometimes you have to know how to do nothing and let nature take its course”, he assures us.