Is it ever better to leave an injured bird on the street, in case of young?

I recently caught a pigeon with a string injury, and took it to be cared for, but was worried that it might have young somewhere that it was feeding, and taking the pigeon might cause the baby to starve.
I live in Chicago, and this was one of hundreds of street pigeon, so I have no idea where a nest might be, or how to find it.
Fortunately, I was able to get the pigeon taken care of and released a couple of hours later, but this made me wonder if it is ever better to leave an injured pigeon on the street, just in case it might be caring for young.
My sense is always to catch and help an injured bird if possible, but I wonder how others have handled this issue (in cases where there is no way to know if there are young pigeons in a nest somewhere).

Thanks.

Great question.

Personally, I always deal with the injured/ill bird at hand.

Beth - I think you have absolutely done the right thing. What sense would it make to leave an injured pij that could possibly starve to death the long way than to quickly help and release if you have the chance. Even in a case where it has young - there is still the other parent to care for the babies if necessary.

Agree with Petra. I feel it's better to catch an injured or ill bird and try to treat it so that it may have a chance at life. There are high chances that it might not make it, if left alone. It may get caught by predators, run over or even succumb to its own illness/injuries.

We can only pray and hope that it may not have any young to feed or at least the other mate is around to take care of them.

I agree with what has been said. It is always better to treat the injured bird as quickly as you can then release it.

Bird that needs help is bird with life threatening problems. If we don’t help she will not survive alone.
Yes it is possible that this bird has young to feed, but pigeons live in pairs. Unlike mammals, both sexes produce crop milk and both parents feed babies.
I personally like to make sure that once I start treating bird, I finish my job properly and bird is released only when fully recovered.

I'm sorry I'm coming in late with a reply to your post, Beth.

You have presented a very good question.
I agree with what the others have mentioned.

A good rule of thumb is, if a pigeon is grounded and doesn't take flight when someone approaches it, then there is something definitely amiss, especially in the evening.
If the concern might be that it's a parent and have babies in the nest, given that it can't escape it wouldn't be able to get back to the nest anyway.
The pigeon needs to be scooped up, if for no other reason (initially) than to remove it from a predators (human as well as four legged) path.

Thank you for helping that little pij.