Is there any truth to the belief that if a mother bird, rabbit, etc...?
Is there any truth to the belief that if a mother bird or other animal smells human on its baby, it will kill it? The reason I ask is because none of these animals, i.e., birds, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks seem to have a problem with my hands touching the food I put out for them in my feeders.
Did this idea come from the fact that someone may have put a baby bird back into a nest it had been kicked out of to begin with?
I'm not sure where this nonsense originated, I would be interested in knowing as well. I know for a fact that birds will not abandon their offspring due to human scent. Birds have a poor sense of smell, and field biologists and ornithologists commonly handle eggs and nestlings daily without affecting nesting success.