This is prime time for baby birds, and many folks across Georgia are reporting that this has been a good year for feathered babies. Indeed, fledgling cardinals, sparrows, bluebirds, house finches, wrens, pine warblers, orchard orioles, phoebes and many others seem to be all over the place.

This is also the time when you might come across a baby bird out of its nest. It may have tumbled out or been blown out — or it might be out of its nest on purpose.

Bluebirdnut.com (ENLARGE)

It's prime time for babies of the avian persuasion, like these 8-day-old bluebirds, ready for some vittles from Mom.

MORE WILD GEORGIA: Birds slowly prepare for winter  Plants create blaze of glory as fall approaches  Monastery of the Holy Spirit at peace with butterflies  Bird-watchers morphing into dragonfly and damselfly fans  Exploring state's caves uncovers beautiful sights

Here's what various bird experts advise if you come across a nestless baby:

• If the baby bird has few or no feathers and appears to be unable to stand or hop, try to return it to its nest. The parents most likely will resume feeding and caring for it. Look around in the trees and bushes for the nest. Before putting the bird back, however, make sure it's warm to the touch. You can simply warm it in your hands. Returning a cold bird to the nest will sometimes prompt the parent to push the baby back out.

• If the baby bird is fully feathered and standing and hopping on the ground but unable to fly, leave it alone and do your best to keep pets and predators away. Most likely the baby is a fledgling and is supposed to be on the ground. Returning it to the nest means that it will have to take another unflighted jump, which could injure it. The parents will continue to care for it, even if it is on the ground. However, the parents won't feed the youngster as long as humans are in the area.

Writing last week on a Georgia birders' chat line, one expert noted that the majority of songbirds learn to fly from the ground up, not from the tree down, and they may remain on the ground for a few days before they can take off on their own.

Birder Charlie Muise of Lamar County also noted that "it's a myth" that a bird will stop caring for its baby after a person handles it. "If that were true," he says, "there would be no bluebirds left, as a very high percent are banded on the nest by those who run 'bluebird box trails.' "

By the way, if you're trying to find a place to take an injured bird or animal, or if you're looking for information on dealing with orphaned wildlife, visit Atlanta Wild Animal Rescue Effort at www.awareone.org.

Shelling out for birds

Naturalist Linda May at the state's Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Jasper County offers this tip for helping songbird mothers:

After laying eggs, female songbirds often lack calcium. You can help them replenish this important nutrient by providing your leftover eggshells. Simply rinse the eggshells in plain water, dry them, and then bake on a cookie sheet at 250 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the edges just start to turn brown.

After cooling, crush the eggshells into small pieces. The little tidbits of calcium are then ready to be placed in a platform bird feeder, along a deck railing or scattered on the ground. "Many songbird species, including insect eaters that normally don't visit feeders, may be drawn to your yard by eggshell offerings," May says.

Poison ivy

While walking with naturalist/ranger Jerry Hightower the other day in the Vickery Creek Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, we came upon a large, lush patch of poison ivy. In fact, it was one of the lushest patches of the noxious plant I've seen. What would cause such luxuriant growth?

Hightower suspects that it's due to more carbon dioxide in the air from fossil-fuel burning, which the vast majority of scientists blame for global warming. A recent study of two forests in South Carolina backs up his conclusions.

The study found a tenfold increase in the number of vines in the forests in just two decades. In addition to poison ivy, other vines include wild grape, Virginia creeper and trumpet vine, all common in Georgia's forests.

The observations add to a growing number of studies that found similar patterns in other temperate and tropical forests, according to scientists at the University of Georgia and other institutions who conducted the new study. They, too, suspect increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide as a likely reason for the heavy vine growth. Many vines, especially poison ivy, have been found to thrive on elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

Some scientists say there are now so many vines in Southern forests that they threaten to change the make-up of the forests.

In the sky

The moon will be last quarter on Thursday, rising about midnight. By week's end, it will set around midday, says astronomer David Dundee of the Northwest Georgia Museum of Science. Mercury is very low in the west just after dark. About the same time, Mars is in the western sky and Saturn is in the southwest. Jupiter rises out of the east about an hour after sunset.