I could not just put them back out into the yard to let them die, but I wasn't sure how to care for them.  I talked with friends who raise parrots and I found information at a web site called Starling Talk.  They had everything I needed to know to care for these babies properly, including what to feed them.  It was at their message forum that I discovered that my baby birds weren't Starlings after all.  They were Sparrows.  I have to admit most naked baby birds look pretty much alike to me!  At least the care is the same.  They had to be kept warm, clean, fed and safe from my pets.  Because I was raising them to be released back into the wild, it was vital that I did not handle them anymore than absolutely necessary.  To survive in the wild they needed to identify with other birds, not people or my pets.  

In the beginning, they needed to be hand-fed every half hour from six in the morning until nine or ten at night.  As they grew, I backed the feedings off to every hour, then every couple of hours and so on.  When they were about two weeks old, they graduated from the incubator to a cage.  Everyday I would take the cage outside and set it near our bird feeding stations.  Once they saw all the birds coming to eat they began eating on their own and they loved being outside!

Here they are at about a week and a half old.  They are finally getting their feathers!

A view from the berry box in the top of the flight cage.

The final step before their release was to set them up in an outside flight cage.  My babies needed to become acclimated to the outdoor environment and room to practice flying. They need about a week in the outside cage before they can be safely released. 

 My 5'x5' cage wasn't as big as I would have wanted, but it was the best I could do.  I placed it in a group of large bushes near the outside bird feeding stations.  I covered the top with plastic sheeting to protect them from the rain, put in some natural tree branches, a berry box filled with hay near the top of the cage for a warm sleeping area and their food and water dishes are on the bottom. They have lived in their outside cage for almost a week and have been doing great.  I plan to release them in two days.  Of course the cage will remain there with the door open for a while.  They will probably return to eat and perhaps at night to sleep until they are fully integrated into Sparrow society.

I will miss these little guys, but like a good Sparrow mom, I've got to let them spread their wings and fly!