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Description
This young Western Screech Owl was the first baby brought into the raptor rehabilitation center I work at this spring. He/she was attacked by a cat, fortunately sustained no injury, and was found by the owner of the cat, who brought the owl into the center.

I could go on a whole tirade about outdoor cats, but instead I'll talk about this: What do you do if you find a baby bird?

First, the baby you've found is probably not an orphan. The fledglings of many species spend time on the ground, particularly when they are learning to fly. It is routine for young owls to fly/fall out of the tree, climb back up, and repeat. Their parents still find and feed them even when they are on the ground. Leave grounded baby birds alone unless:

it is clearly injured
it is visibly shivering
it is completely or nearly featherless
it is at risk of predation from a dog or cat
it is very close to a road or path and may get run over
there is a dead parent nearby

If you find a baby bird under any of those circumstances, bring it to a rehabilitation center. They are all over the place. Google one near your area. Tell them where you found it and, if you know, where the nest is. They can release the bird back into the area or, if the bird was found under circumstances three, four, or five, possibly place it back in the nest. Ideally, you should bring a baby bird to a rehab center ASAP. If you are in the USA, you have 2 days to transfer the bird either to a rehab facility or veterinarian before you are breaking the law, because it is illegal to keep any native bird without a permit. Place the baby in a warm, enclosed box (a towel makes a nice substrate) until you can bring it to a rehab center. Do not handle it. Do not offer food or water. That last one sounds counter-intuitive, but there is a reason for it. First, most people feed the wrong food. Second, and more important, if the bird is seriously dehydrated/starving, it may use up too much energy trying to deal with what you give it; a rehabilitator can give fluids intravenously and properly tube or hand-feed if necessary. If it is not seriously dehydrated/starving, it should be fine until you bring it to a rehabilitator.

Never try to rehabilitate a bird on your own. It is illegal, and does not help the bird. If you really care about the bird you find, take it to the proper facility and politely request the bird be released back into your area. Most places do this anyway. You might even be able to see the bird you helped rescue get released when the time comes.

We put a great deal of effort into making sure our rehab babies do not imprint on humans (I photographed this baby wearing a full-body covering with a screen shielding my face. She/he is puppet-fed facing away from the covered human feeder and towards the puppet since we have no Western Screech Owl foster parents. During most of the day it huddles next to an effigy of a Western Screech Owl since we don't have any other screech owl babies at the moment to keep it company. Unfortunately, we receive several physically healthy young birds a year that are imprinted and thus can never live normal, free lives in the wild because someone tried to rehab it themselves or WORST, tried to keep it like a pet. And wild birds do not make good pets It took only another week before this uncoordinated ball of fluff was old enough to start making effective attempts at taloning and biting handlers during weight checks. Properly motivated, these birds (even when young) are strong enough to puncture right through the thick leather gloves we use for handling.

Description
This young Western Screech Owl was the first baby brought into the raptor rehabilitation center I work at this spring. He/she was attacked by a cat, fortunately sustained no injury, and was found by the owner of the cat, who brought the owl into the center.

I could go on a whole tirade about outdoor cats, but instead I'll talk about this: What do you do if you find a baby bird?

First, the baby you've found is probably not an orphan. The fledglings of many species spend time on the ground, particularly when they are learning to fly. It is routine for young owls to fly/fall out of the tree, climb back up, and repeat. Their parents still find and feed them even when they are on the ground. Leave grounded baby birds alone unless:

it is clearly injured
it is visibly shivering
it is completely or nearly featherless
it is at risk of predation from a dog or cat
it is very close to a road or path and may get run over
there is a dead parent nearby

If you find a baby bird under any of those circumstances, bring it to a rehabilitation center. They are all over the place. Google one near your area. Tell them where you found it and, if you know, where the nest is. They can release the bird back into the area or, if the bird was found under circumstances three, four, or five, possibly place it back in the nest. Ideally, you should bring a baby bird to a rehab center ASAP. If you are in the USA, you have 2 days to transfer the bird either to a rehab facility or veterinarian before you are breaking the law, because it is illegal to keep any native bird without a permit. Place the baby in a warm, enclosed box (a towel makes a nice substrate) until you can bring it to a rehab center. Do not handle it. Do not offer food or water. That last one sounds counter-intuitive, but there is a reason for it. First, most people feed the wrong food. Second, and more important, if the bird is seriously dehydrated/starving, it may use up too much energy trying to deal with what you give it; a rehabilitator can give fluids intravenously and properly tube or hand-feed if necessary. If it is not seriously dehydrated/starving, it should be fine until you bring it to a rehabilitator.

Never try to rehabilitate a bird on your own. It is illegal, and does not help the bird. If you really care about the bird you find, take it to the proper facility and politely request the bird be released back into your area. Most places do this anyway. You might even be able to see the bird you helped rescue get released when the time comes.

We put a great deal of effort into making sure our rehab babies do not imprint on humans (I photographed this baby wearing a full-body covering with a screen shielding my face. She/he is puppet-fed facing away from the covered human feeder and towards the puppet since we have no Western Screech Owl foster parents. During most of the day it huddles next to an effigy of a Western Screech Owl since we don't have any other screech owl babies at the moment to keep it company. Unfortunately, we receive several physically healthy young birds a year that are imprinted and thus can never live normal, free lives in the wild because someone tried to rehab it themselves or WORST, tried to keep it like a pet. And wild birds do not make good pets It took only another week before this uncoordinated ball of fluff was old enough to start making effective attempts at taloning and biting handlers during weight checks. Properly motivated, these birds (even when young) are strong enough to puncture right through the thick leather gloves we use for handling.