Help & FAQs

Keep it warm, quiet and contained, away from pets and children. If it’s hurt, bleeding, fluffed up or struggling to breathe, take it to a vet. Most vets accept found birds at no cost. Then use the found-bird helper, which walks you through care and reporting.

No. You give your first name and email address, and confirm the report with a code we email you.

No. If the bird matches a registered bird, BIRD alerts the owner, and they can message you through BIRD. You decide together how to get the bird home. Meet somewhere public, and ask them to describe something only an owner would know.

Native birds without a band are usually wild. Contact a licensed wildlife rescue group or a vet; the found-bird helper lists the service for your state. Don’t keep or feed a wild bird for longer than you need to.

Racing pigeons wear association bands. The pigeon’s federation or a local club can usually trace the owner from the band, so contact them as well as reporting it on BIRD.

Nothing. BIRD is free for owners, finders, breeders, clubs and professionals.

Any bird worth keeping safe: parrots, finches, canaries, pigeons, doves, poultry, waterfowl and more. If its species isn’t on our list, describe it.

Register it anyway. BIRD also matches found birds by description, area and date. Add clear photos of any distinguishing marks.

Choose the picture that looks most like your bird. BIRD fills in the variety and colours for you.

No. It shows who registered the bird on BIRD and its history here. Keep receipts, permits and club records as well.

We’re sorry. You can mark it deceased from its page, and its record stays in your account and in its family line. You can also delete it.

Sign in, open your bird and choose Report lost. See My bird is missing for everything else that helps.

So nobody can claim a bird they’ve only seen, for example in a found-bird post. Lost and stolen reports are for birds registered before they went missing.

From a lost or stolen bird’s page, choose Make a poster. Print it or save it as a PDF. The QR code takes finders to a report for your bird. Band and microchip numbers and your contact details aren’t on it.

It’s matched like any lost bird, and vets, rescues and shelters see a stolen flag if they look it up. To the person reporting it, a stolen match looks like any other, so they aren’t tipped off. We’re alerted too.

See our identification guide.

That happens, because every club and manufacturer numbers its own bands. BIRD tells them apart by issuer, band colour, species and description, and the owner always confirms a match.

Yes. Pet microchip registries are mostly used for cats and dogs. On BIRD, the chip sits alongside your bird’s photos, bands and description, and is matched against found-bird reports.

From the bird’s page, choose Transfer to a new owner and enter the new owner’s email address. They have 30 days to accept, and can create a free account if they don’t have one.

Ask the seller to transfer it to your email address. If it was never registered, register it yourself.

See Verified breeders.

Finders can’t. Verified professionals see only what you choose in your sharing settings. See Privacy & security.

Use the link at the bottom of any reminder, or turn them off under Reminder emails in your account. Emails about matches, messages and transfers always come.

Both are under Your data in your account.