Helpless To Help Semi-Helpless Baby Bird

Last night, my girlfriend noticed a little bird outside our apartments just sitting in the grass chirping.  She figured that it was hurt since it was sort'a hobling around awkwardly, but just to make sure she through a rock near it too, Hahaha.  It didnt' fly away, so we figured it must be hurt.

She looked up some info online, and it said to leave it there and other birds will take care of it, so we did.  This morning though, on my way to a dentist appointment (no cavities!) I checked back outside and yep, it was still there limping around.

 I'm kinda worried about the poor thing since it got injured in a really bad area. This is the strip of grass inbetween buildings where everyone walks their dogs!  I watched the little guy for a bit, trying to think of what I could do for it.  It was chirping, and other birds were chirpin' back; I figured that was a good sign.  One bird flew right down near it for a second, but they sort'a chirped and flapped at each other before the second one flew away, so I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

I looked back online, and found some really good ideas!  They mainly suggest leaving hurt birds alone, But they said that if it was in danger from dogs and cats that I could A) Toss it in some bushes, or B) Make a basket with some grass and leaves and stuff, and hang it up in a tree.  That really sounded like a good idea!

I got some ski-gloves on, and grabbed a basket and went back out.  Poor little guy hoppin' and chirpin'.  He was making some good progress, though, he had hopped half way accross the strip!  Maybe he was gonna be good, afterall.

Right then, the other bird flew back, and it had food in it's mouth!  It chewed it up, and the baby bird chirped excitedly and kept opening it's mouth up towards it.  They put their beaks together and the new bird fed the baby!  The hurt little guy was really happy, chewing and hopping all around.  Then the other bird flew away again, and brought back more!

At this point, I couldn't mess with the poor guy.  His bird-buddies had found him, and were taking care of him. It was actually pretty cool to see; I really wished I had a camera handy.  

So, I sort'a sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what to do.  Couldn't move it, or the birds might get weirded out.  The basket thing sounded like a good idea, but no trees could support it nearby.  I knew the other birds would take care of it now, but there's going to be dogs romping around soon!  It was getting late, so if I was going to do anything, I had to do it quick.   I decided the only thing I could do, was to make a sign alerting dog-owners that an injured bird was around, so that hopefully they'd keep the dogs on a short leash.

I ran inside, got some paper an da hanger, wrote out a little note "Careful with pets!  Hurt Baby Bird Nearby!", stuck it in the ground, and then had to leave.  I can't really think of what else I could'a done...Should I have put it under some bushes?  I'm sure it'll be fine, but I could really see somebody daydreaming and being taken off-guard when their dog dashes off; not even realizing what's going on until it's too late!   Hahaha,  This humanitarian side'a me is getting kinda annoying. ;)

So, that's how my morning's gone so far.  What else could'a I done?  Maybe I'll head back on lunch and check on it again...