If a small wild bird sits still on a busy Toronto sidewalk and lets you approach, get wildlife advice now. Don't assume it is a baby or that it only needs a cuddle. A bird that hit glass can have injuries you can't see.
Toronto Wildlife Centre is our first call for medical advice: 416-631-0662. FLAP Canada is a useful specialist contact for bird collisions during migration. For a healthy young bird hopping near its parents, leaving the family alone is often the better choice.
The biggest mistakes are feeding it, taking it for a walk or releasing it because it briefly looks better. Keep people and pets back. Use the correct species guide before moving a wild animal.
Primary guidance and contact details checked October 10, 2026. The photographs show species and professional wildlife work. They do not diagnose an animal you have found.
Start with what the animal is doing
| What you see | Best next step | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Small adult bird stunned near glass or traffic | Contact a wildlife rehabilitator and use FLAP's small-bird containment guidance | Waiting for your workday to finish, feeding it or holding it for photos |
| Feathered young bird hopping well | Keep pets back and check the fledgling guide | Assuming every bird on the ground needs to come home |
| Bird caught by a cat, even without an obvious wound | Treat it as an urgent wildlife-care case | Releasing it because it can flutter |
| Bleeding, breathing trouble or a visibly injured animal | Call wildlife help or 311 and describe what you see | Testing whether it can walk or fly |
| Large bird, bird of prey or adult mammal | Keep back and get professional capture advice | Copying small-songbird handling steps |
| Bat with possible human or pet contact | Get medical or veterinary advice and call 311 | Touching it or releasing it before the exposure question is assessed |
| Quiet young mammal with no injury | Use the species-specific decision guide | Calling it abandoned simply because a parent is out of sight |
Ontario advises contacting an authorised wildlife custodian before attempting capture. FLAP publishes specific steps for a small injured bird. Those steps are not instructions for catching every wild animal. Ontario's wildlife-help guidance
A bird beside a window, bus shelter or bike lane needs a different decision from a healthy fledgling under a shrub. The setting helps the expert assess the case. It does not prove the cause by itself.
If it looks like a stunned adult bird
Keep the bird in sight while you contact help and find a suitable container. If another person can watch from a safe position, that reduces the chance of losing it or having someone step on it. Don't walk into traffic to reach it.
FLAP's instructions use an unwaxed paper bag or a small cardboard box with a few air holes. Add a clean, unscented tissue or paper towel inside. A waxed takeaway bag is not the same thing. FLAP's injured-bird instructions
For necessary handling, follow that guide gently. Don't close your hand tightly around the bird. Place it upright in the container, close it securely and put the container in a dark, quiet, warm space away from children and pets.
Then leave it alone while you arrange the next step. Do not feed it, give water or keep opening the container for another photograph. Let the rehabilitation facility advise on transport and release.
Flying away is not a medical clearance. FLAP says a window-collision victim can have hidden injuries even when it looks merely stunned. Don't deliberately release a contained collision bird before it has been assessed or a rehabilitator tells you what to do.
If the bird escapes before you can contain it, report the observation and location to the appropriate organisation. Don't chase it through trees or traffic trying to undo the event.
Choose prompt expert assessment over a rest-and-release experiment. Good intentions do not reveal a hidden injury.
A tiny bird is not automatically a baby
Ruby-crowned Kinglets are small even as adults. Cornell's bird guide shows that adult males can have a bright red crown, which is often hidden. Size and a fluffy appearance are not enough to decide that a bird is a helpless youngster. Cornell's Ruby-crowned Kinglet guide
Merlin Bird ID can help with identification. It cannot tell you whether a bird has an internal injury or is safe to release. Use a species name as useful information for the wildlife expert, not a substitute for assessment. Cornell's Merlin Bird ID
Nestling or fledgling?
A nestling has little feathering, or is not yet able to move well outside the nest. A fledgling is feathered and often hops, runs or flutters while its parents continue feeding it.
Toronto Wildlife Centre's young-bird guide says a baby that hops well and is difficult to catch may be in a normal situation. Give it space and keep pets away. A young bird can look awkward without needing to be raised by a person. TWC's baby-bird decision guide
An uninjured nestling can sometimes be returned to the correct nest when that can be done safely. Parent birds do not reject a baby simply because a person touched it. An injured, cat-caught or uncertain bird needs a different plan.
Don't throw a bird into the air to test it. Don't drip water into its beak. If you cannot safely identify the situation, ask for help.
Keep the exact found location. Take a map pin, street description, time and safe photograph for the rehabilitator. Young birds may need their parents nearby. A professional may give a different release plan for an adult collision bird, so “always put every bird back at the exact spot” is too broad.
Leave a healthy fledgling with its family. Get advice promptly for a helpless nestling or possible injured adult.
Who should you contact in Toronto?
Toronto Wildlife Centre: assessment and rehabilitation advice
416-631-0662. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. TWC asks people with animal questions to use its Request for Assistance Form, with photos when useful, or the wildlife hotline.
It handles requests by urgency. You may need to leave a message. The contact page says requests received after 6 p.m. are answered the next day. That is not a guaranteed pickup time. Current TWC contact instructions
Ask which facility can accept this animal today. The answer can depend on species, age, injury and available care. A past report that one baby bird could not be admitted does not establish a permanent rule for every songbird. Tell the receiving service immediately if transport is a problem. Do not delay expert advice while waiting for a social-group membership or volunteer reply.
Don't arrive with an animal before speaking to its hotline staff. TWC may advise a reunion, another service or a different receiving facility. Its posted address is 60 Carl Hall Road, Unit 4, Toronto, but confirm the admission instructions before travelling.
The map below is for an approved trip. It is not a walk-in invitation.
TWC is a registered charity with a wildlife hospital. It is separate from Toronto Animal Services. A call to one is not automatically a request registered with the other.
FLAP Canada: bird-collision advice during migration
416-366-3527. Leave a message if needed. Its rescue page lists monitoring 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week, during migration seasons: mid-March to early June and mid-August to early November.
FLAP says not to email or use social media for an injured-bird emergency. Its volunteers and advice are valuable, but it does not operate a wildlife rehabilitation hospital. FLAP's current rescue contact and hours
Use the phone number rather than relying on a direct message. Do not assume the line is monitored around the clock or throughout winter.
Toronto Animal Services: use 311 for a City wildlife request
The City accepts reports of sick, injured or traumatised wildlife, including birds. Its guide says Animal Services can check and, when needed, pick up affected animals. If you can safely keep the animal in sight, that can help an officer find it. City orphaned and injured wildlife guide
Tell 311 the location, species if known, visible condition and whether people or traffic are in danger. Do not promise a volunteer will arrive because you left a message elsewhere.
If the first centre cannot help
Ask for another authorised rehabilitator and describe the case again. Ontario has a current wildlife rehabilitator directory. Facilities differ in the species they accept and space available.
FLAP notes that some exotic-animal vets accept wild birds for emergency care. Call before travelling and ask whether that clinic can receive the bird, what the next transfer step is and whether any charge applies. An ordinary pet clinic is not automatically the right wildlife destination.
Choose the service that has agreed to help your actual case. Do not drive from door to door with an animal in a box.
Baby mammals: use the right decision guide
A parent's absence is not proof that a baby has been abandoned. Keep dogs and cats away, reduce noise and watch from far enough away that a parent can return. The next step depends on species, age, injury and how the baby was found.
Baby rabbits
Eastern cottontails are the wild rabbits most often seen here. Their young can be alone for periods while a mother stays away. A small rabbit moving normally is not automatically a pet or an orphan.
TWC has different instructions for an undisturbed nest, a nest disturbed by gardening, a dog finding the nest, a cat-caught rabbit and a baby outside the nest. Choose the matching case. TWC's rabbit guide
A black, white or unusually coloured bunny can be a domestic animal needing a different service. Don't release a possible pet rabbit into a park. Leave a healthy wild family alone; get help for injury or uncertainty.
Baby squirrels
TWC distinguishes babies inside a nest from those outside it. Its guide tells readers to contain an outside-nest baby for safety while working out the next step. An intact nest in an attic or garage needs a different decision.
Young squirrels need the correct warmth, even indoors or on a warm day. TWC provides specific warming and reunion instructions. Follow that guidance instead of putting a cold baby back under a tree and hoping. TWC's baby-squirrel guide
Don't give nuts, milk, formula or water. Ask whether reunion is suitable for that baby's condition and the site. Use the official case instructions and contact help if the reunion is unsafe or unsuccessful.
Baby raccoons
A raccoon alone in daytime is not automatically sick. TWC's baby guide uses size and the situation to separate cases; an animal larger than a regular house cat should be treated as an adult.
Smaller and larger babies have different containment directions. Don't copy a small-baby photo when you are facing a defensive older animal. Ask for capture advice if you are unsure, and keep children and pets back. TWC's raccoon guide
Choose professional advice before an improvised rescue. Do not relocate the mother and leave young behind.
Baby skunks
Baby skunks can already have black-and-white markings before they have much fur. Once furry with open eyes, they can spray. A small size does not make cornering or grabbing one a good plan.
TWC's guide separates small babies from older ones and offers case-specific instructions. Move people and dogs back while you ask for help. TWC's skunk guide
Choose the matching official instructions. Don't assume an animal in your yard needs to be trapped or taken elsewhere.
Baby opossums
Very young Virginia opossums stay in their mother's pouch. TWC gives different advice for a baby with no mother in sight and young found inside a dead mother's pouch.
Don't handle a carcass with bare hands or try to remove attached babies without guidance. Tell the expert that there may be young in the pouch. TWC's opossum guide
Choose an expert-led plan for a small lone opossum. Do not turn it into a home-feeding project.
Ducklings, goslings and turtle hatchlings
Waterfowl families
A duckling or gosling has different needs from a helpless songbird nestling. TWC's guide separates these cases by movement, down and webbed feet. A family crossing a road does not need people chasing it into a different direction.
Keep pets back. If there is injury, separation or a dangerous traffic situation, contact wildlife help or 311. Describe where the family went. Don't step into live traffic or take one baby home while the rest move on. TWC's young-bird cases
Skip bread and other feeding. Ask for the safe reunion or road-response plan.
Turtle hatchlings
A turtle hatchling does not need parental care like a baby bird. TWC says healthy hatchlings can move, find food and survive independently. Being small and alone is not proof of abandonment.
An injured turtle, uncertain species, exposed eggs or a dangerous road situation needs advice. TWC's hatchling guide gives particular conditions for helping a healthy baby near suitable water; it is not permission to move every turtle to any pond. TWC's baby-turtle guide
Do not lift a snapping turtle by its tail or risk your own safety in traffic. Choose species-specific guidance before moving it.
Protect yourself, and treat cat contact as urgent
Wild animals can bite, scratch and carry infections. Ontario recommends suitable protective equipment when handling is necessary, followed by handwashing. Do not put your face near the animal or let a child hold it.
If a person was bitten, scratched or may have been exposed to an infectious disease, contact a healthcare provider or public health promptly. If a pet had contact, call its veterinarian. A wildlife hotline is not a substitute for either assessment. Ontario's handling precautions
A cat-caught animal needs help even when you can't see a wound
TWC calls a cat attack a medical emergency for wildlife. A small puncture can introduce harmful bacteria, and feathers or fur can hide injuries. Keep the cat away and tell the rehabilitator what happened. TWC's cat and wildlife guidance
Don't release a bird or rabbit simply because it has stopped struggling. Do not try to give antibiotics or treat the wound yourself.
Bats need a separate exposure check
Never touch a bat with bare hands or try to catch it using the songbird method. The City says to keep people and pets back and contact 311 for a sick or injured bat.
If there was contact, or a bat was found where a person could not give a reliable history of contact, seek medical advice. Don't release it before that question is assessed. The City can connect you with Toronto Public Health. Toronto's bat guidance
If several birds or other animals appear sick or dead together, keep back and report the pattern. Don't assume every quiet bird has the same cause or that all wildlife is safe to handle.
What to do while waiting for instructions
Keep a contained animal dark, quiet and away from pets. Use the species-specific guidance for warmth. A helpless baby and an adult bird are different cases. Don't improvise with a hot lamp, loose water bottle or an untested heater.
Ontario allows temporary possession of sick, injured or immature wildlife for up to 24 hours when transferring it to a wildlife custodian or veterinarian. That is not permission to adopt it or an instruction to wait a full day. Arrange help promptly. Ontario's temporary-care rule
Tell the receiving service if you cannot drive. FLAP says rehabilitation facilities can help explore transport options. Availability varies; don't assume a volunteer will collect the animal from any address.
For an approved journey, secure the closed container and follow the facility's directions. Take the found-location record with you. Don't open the box in a car to reassure yourself that the bird is still there.
Keep a small empty box, clean paper towel, suitable gloves and the contact numbers at home. That is a preparation kit, not a feeding kit. The useful skill is knowing when to call and when to leave a healthy family alone.
Prevent the next collision
Reduce unnecessary light at night during migration and ask building management about bird-safe windows. Daytime reflections are a separate problem, so lights alone do not solve every collision.
FLAP explains exterior window treatments and other changes that make glass visible to birds. Use its current coverage and spacing guidance rather than assuming one sticker in a corner protects a whole window. FLAP's bird-safe window guide
Keep pet cats indoors or in supervised, secure outdoor arrangements. A protected animal shouldn't have to survive another attack while a family tries to reunite.
Use a safe photo and the exact find location for the care service. Avoid publishing a vulnerable nest's precise location or handing an animal to an unknown person who offers to take it.
For a later outing, our ethical Toronto wildlife-viewing guide is a better plan than trying to touch wild animals. Our 311 and City councillor guide explains the different City routes. An urgent injured-animal request goes to the appropriate service, not a councillor's general inbox.
Frequently asked questions
Is a very small bird always a baby?
No. Kinglets and other adult songbirds can be tiny. Size does not tell you whether it is a fledgling, injured adult or another case. Use the species guide and get wildlife advice before deciding what to do.
Is a stunned bird fine once it flies away?
Not necessarily. FLAP warns that window-collision victims can have hidden injuries. Don't deliberately release a contained bird without assessment or instructions from a rehabilitator. A short rest is not proof of recovery.
Is putting an injured bird in a box the wrong thing to do?
A suitable box can be part of the correct rescue process. FLAP describes a small box with air holes, soft clean material and a dark, quiet place. It is temporary containment while arranging expert help. It is not a plan to keep or feed a wild bird at home.
Can I give an injured bird seeds, milk or water?
Don't give food or water unless the rehabilitator instructs you. A bird's species and condition matter, and an unsuitable feeding method can harm it. Keep the animal quiet and arrange help. Human food and a water bowl are not a substitute for care.
Who should I call for an injured bird in Toronto?
Contact Toronto Wildlife Centre at 416-631-0662 or use its animal-assistance form. During migration, FLAP's rescue line is 416-366-3527 within its listed monitoring hours. You can also contact 311 for a City injured-wildlife request. These are different services, so explain the case each time.
Can I call 311 for a bird rather than a raccoon?
Yes. The City's injured-wildlife page includes birds. Give the exact location and visible condition, and safely keep the animal in sight if you can. A service request does not guarantee an immediate arrival.
Will a mother bird reject a baby that a person touched?
Touch alone does not make a parent reject the baby. That does not mean you should handle healthy young birds unnecessarily. Ask whether a safe return to the correct nest or a reunion is appropriate. Injury and cat contact change the decision.
What if my cat caught the animal but it looks unhurt?
Treat it as urgent and contact wildlife help. TWC warns that a small puncture can introduce bacteria and cause serious infection. Tell the expert about the cat contact even if you see no wound. Don't release it based only on appearance.
If you are beside an animal right now, use the matching expert guide and make the call. Save the photographs and good-news updates for after the animal has a proper plan.