Fledgling birds- If a bird can stand up and hop around, it is supposed to be out of the nest. It does not need to come into care providing that both wings are sitting against the body symmetrically as they should be.
Normal Development Fledgling birds come out of the nest and spend the first two weeks on the ground. This is a completely normal part of their development. During this time they are still being fed by the parent birds, they can often achieve low flight but cannot get any height and even once they fly, are still fed for a further six weeks by the parents.
Wildlife shelters Wildlife shelters do not readily take this stage of bird into care as it is not necessary. At night to avoid predators, these birds will hop from branch to branch, obstacle to obstacle in order to get high enough out of reach. It is OK to take a fledgling in for the night providing you place them in a box (not a hot box) on a towel and leave it to sleep for the night -do not feed it, but release it at first light the next morning.
In the Morning
A young bird calls for food so the adult bird can locate it. It needs to be hungry when placed outside -so that it displays the correct behavior in order for the parents to reunite and feed it. It is a complete old wives tale that a baby bird will be rejected if touched by human hands- it's usually because people have feed them and they are not calling for food - the parent bird then reads the behavior as being sick because they know they have not fed them.