Liberty Wildlife: What to do if you find an owl's nest

PHOENIX (FOX 10) - Liberty Wildlife treats and rehabilitates more than 9,000 animals a year, which includes many birds. This time of year it's baby birds. The non-profit is reminding Valley residents what to do if they find a nest.

Baby owls are a common sight this time of year at Liberty Wildlife.

"We're entering a really busy time of year where baby birds are being born left, right and center and obviously our weather has been all over the place," said Laura Hackett with Liberty Wildlife.

The storms can knock down a nest, but with spring just around the corner, and many residents tidying up their landscape, spokesperson Laura Hackett says accidents can happen as well.

"We get a lot of people who don't realize they shouldn't be trimming trees right now, spring is a time for cleaning up your landscape to make it look pretty, and, unfortunately, that's when most of our birds are going to be putting up their nests and laying eggs," said Hackett.

Hackett says the best thing to do if the baby is unharmed, is to return it to its nest.

"Birds of prey, most birds, don't have a sense of smell or a strong sense of smell so they don't smell humans on the feathers and they won't reject the babies," says Hackett.

If the bird is hurt or maybe a little too large to handle, call for help.

"We have foster parents here so we have birds that cannot be released back into the wild for whatever reason, injuries that keep them from flying well or hunting and they have become foster parents," said Hackett.

Those foster parents will help hatch rescued eggs and raise baby birds until they are ready to be released into the wild.

Liberty Wildlife has a hotline you can call for help. That number is 480-998-5550.