Many years ago my family was visiting a park in California when a child came over to us and said that a bird nest had fallen onto the ground under a tree and that there was one baby bird still alive. We reasoned that the nest had been attacked by another bird or a squirrel.
My mother picked it up and we took it home in a folding paper cup. It still carried its egg sack, its eyes still closed and had few pin feathers emerging. The sparrow kept crying out, “cheep, cheep.” She made some baby food and began feeding it with an eye dropper, which it consumed with gusto.
Our bird, now named Cheep grew into an adult and lived with us for many years. Cheep would fly to the sink and drink water slowly flowing from the spout. The Oakland Tribune published a story complete with photos of Cheep drinking. Sadly, an accident resulted in Cheep’s death.
@gailcalled, you are correct. Either my auto spell checker changed progeny into prodigy, or I made the mistake.
@Dutchess_III thanks for debunking my long held belief that the scent of a human would cause it to be ejected from the nest.