Can Birds Pick Up Their Babies? (Everything Explained)

There are many examples of animals holding babies in nature. Crocodiles carry their babies in their mouths, while opossums and even scorpions carry them on their backs.

But can birds carry babies? Can they move them to a new den?

Most birds are unable to pick up or move their young. Songbirds, for example, produce late-maturing chicks, which spend their first few weeks in the safety of their nests. If they fall out of the nest, they are less likely to find their way back to the nest. However, some birds can pick up their young, and some waterfowl such as loons and swans can even carry their chicks around on their backs.

Most birds aren’t built to lift heavy objects, especially when flying. Birds of prey such as eagles are an exception, but they have not been recorded moving around with live young.

While many waterfowl can swim with their babies on their backs, few can do the same on land. However, there are always exceptions and surprises in the bird world!

Read this article to learn all about how birds move and carry babies.

While most birds cannot carry their young, it is not uncommon for species like swans to let their chicks ride on their backs

When do the birds pick up their babies?

Many species of birds are known to carry their young from time to time. However, this is a very rare behavior in the bird world. Read on for some examples of birds carrying chicks and when they might do so.

when meditating

Young loons and eared grebes often ride on the backs of their parents. Parents can incubate (warm) their chicks this way while they are on the water. In the case of common loons, this occurs most often between the first and second weeks of life of the chicks, and it is usually the male who carries the young.

Young-eared grebes are carried on the back by one of their parents for the first week of life. The other parent will bring some food and feed the baby as it is taken away.

Trumpeter swans will also climb on the backs of their parents, but this is unusual for them. More common in introduced mute swans and Australian black swans.

when removing them from the nest

Birds occasionally remove sick or dead babies from the nest to avoid attracting predators or allowing disease to affect other chicks. In some cases, the parent birds even kill and take away the youngest, weakest chicks to ensure the survival of their siblings.

in danger

The African Jacana is one of the few birds that can lift chicks and carry them any distance on foot. Father jacana, who cares for the chicks alone, is able to collect his chicks under his wing and take them to a safe place when danger threatens.

African otter protecting chicks

Can birds move their babies to another nest?

Very few birds are able to move their babies from one place to another. Songbirds, for example, typically only use one nest to house any given clutch. If the nest fails for any reason, they will usually build a new nest or re-use an old nest to try another litter of babies.

An interesting exception comes from the family of birds known as Caprimulgidae. Some members of this group of nocturnal birds, including whipless birds and nightjars, can move their eggs short distances if their nests are disturbed. However, they are thought to move their chicks by calling them, rather than lifting or pushing them with their bodies.

Grebes carry their babies on their backs and they only use the nest to hatch their eggs. These amazing birds keep their chicks warm and dry by carrying them on their backs, so you could say the parents’ backs are the first few weeks of a new nest!

Close-up of a perched Whip-poor-will

Can the birds get their babies back to the nest?

If young birds fall out, they often cannot return to the nest. Most birds do not have the strength to carry their young back to their nests in trees or anywhere else above the ground. Birds of prey like eagles do have the ability to carry loads, but they don’t usually carry their own live chicks.

Chicks often leave the nest long before they are able to fly normally. They usually fall to the ground or climb up bushes or branches near their nests.

This is normal behavior and they don’t need to return to their den, as their parents will continue to feed them wherever they end up.

Fieldfare chicks on the ground near the nest

Why do birds throw babies out of the nest?

When babies die for some reason, birds often throw them out of the nest. Leaving poor chicks to rot in the nest could attract scavengers or spread disease. However, mother birds are not always able to take away hapless chicks, especially with cave-nesting species like bluejays.

Occasionally, the mother bird kills her own chicks and pushes them out of the nest. This behavior has been well documented among white storks in Europe, Asia and Africa. During three years of observation of 63 nests, the researchers identified nine cases of the practice, known as infanticide. Usually the male kills the last born chick in the larger brood. He did this to ensure that older, healthier babies survived.

Oddly, some juveniles will throw other juveniles out of the nest. The various American cuckoos do a fine job of building their own nests and raising their own chicks, but in Africa, Europe, and Asia, most cuckoos have a tricky way of raising their young.

Mother cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of different birds. Once hatched, cuckoo chicks push suitable babies out of their nests, where they are then fed by unsuspecting host birds!

Marsh warbler feeding cuckoo chicks in nest

Do birds carry babies while flying?

It is very rare for birds to carry their young in flight, although at least 16 different species of birds have been reported to do so. It has long been believed that the woodsnipe leads its young to safety, although there is no conclusive evidence for this.

It’s unclear how the mother bird catches chicks in flight, if at all!

Birds occasionally lift their young briefly into the air as they cling to the feathers beneath them. However, this is purely by chance, the chicks simply don’t move very far.

Close up of a Eurasian woodcock chick

common problem

Can robins pick up their babies?

The robin didn’t have the strength to pick up and hold the baby. If you find a baby robin outside the nest, return it to its original location if it is young and featherless, or let it learn to fly if it has grown all its feathers.

Do mother birds abandon them if you touch them?

If the chicks are carried back to the nest, the mother bird will not abandon them. However, this behavior sometimes does more harm than good, as many young birds are captured and disturbed before they are old enough to leave the nest.