Its a myth that parent birds will abandon young that have been touched by humansmost birds have a poor sense of smell, and birds in general identify their young using the same cues we humans doappearance and sound. Its perfectly safe to pick up a fallen nestling and put it back in the nest, or to carry a fledgling out of danger and place it in a tree or shrub.
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The real issue is disturbance, not smell. For instance, bird biologists who conduct nest surveys report that birds will occasionally abandon their eggs or young after being chased from a nest by people or other predators. To protect both people and animals, it is never a good idea to disturb any wildlife, and in most cases, it is also illegal.
A: This is basically a myth, but it probably helped discourage people from upsetting wildlife. This widely held notion that human scent causes nest abandonment is “for the birds” and ignores fundamental bird biology as well as “animal parents’ innate drive to nurture their broods,” according to a 2007 Scientific American article. To begin with, most birds cant smell well. Most birds have a limited sense of smell, with the exception of some that can focus on specific scents associated with their food sources, like turkey vultures and starlings.
For the majority of other animals, including mammals, the myth that human scent causes abandonment is likewise false. When babies handled by biologists are returned to their mothers, the biologists’ scent does not seem to bother the mother animals. Again, disturbance is the real problem. Biologists must move swiftly and carefully to minimize disturbance when working with newborn animals. However, parents do occasionally fail to reunite with their offspring. For instance, in an ADF study on sheep Unfortunately, biologists sometimes have no other option than to handle young people in order to collect the data they need to finish their studies.
If you come across a baby bird or any other kind of animal, the best course of action is to leave it alone. The parents are usually around and might be waiting for you to leave. Additionally, diseases that originate in wildlife can spread to humans through contact with them, or vice versa. But if you do unintentionally come into contact with a bird’s egg or nest, don’t worrythe parents won’t run away because of your scent. Just quietly and swiftly depart the area, making every effort to cause the least amount of disruption possible.