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To civilians who may have been puzzled by the wildlife crowd’s tossed-off references to peefas, modos or mice cubes, here is a beginner’s guide to Rehabberspeak. But sometimes we personalize them, and since birds are clearly not all the same, one rehabber’s “sweetiebirds” may be another’s “those sonsabit%*#s.”.
I don’t mean people who steal birds. I mean birds who steal, sometimes from people. It’s a sad fact of life: sometimes birds take things that don’t belong to them. Crows, who are probably the most larcenous birds on earth, make off with anything they can get their beaks on. Raptors mug each other mid-air.
Here is an x-ray of a bird,” I say. It’s a really big bird. Why do you wildliferehabilitators waste your time saving a cardinal with a broken wing, when you could be giving your money to save habitat? Wildliferehabilitators should not have to defend what they do. The kids can’t get enough of this stuff.
If that’s not possible, she needs the knowledgeable care of a licensed wildliferehabilitator. Wildlife rehabbers love the public. Somehow they manage to get the bird or animal to a rehabilitator, even though finding one is often a feat in itself. Why do wildliferehabilitators not love the public?
Linda runs a wildliferehabilitation center in Austin County, Texas, and one night she wrote to our listserv that a woman had called her that afternoon and told her that Mockingbirds had gotten into her house, taken over her brain, and were telling her what to do. We also send each other pictures of birds in spa clothing.
Just returned from an amazing tour of Tulsa … wildliferehabilitators, fabulous artists, even an NPR interview with Rich Fisher – all to benefit WING-IT , Tulsa’s dedicated group of rehabbers. I just arrived home and since I’m too tired to write this week’s post, I’ll speak it instead.
Injured wildlife are not the most cooperative of patients. Wildliferehabilitators have an arsenal of equipment and techniques we use to protect ourselves. I was working at the Coastal Wildlife Rescue Center here in Alabama, and he had either been blown in during a storm or caught a ride on a ship.
The general public is out and about, birds and animals are raising their young, and human/wildlife interaction is at its peak. A robot that feeds baby birds so I can take a nap,” wrote Jodi in Massachusetts. “A Hidden by camera angle is hitch on back for wildlife trailer.). Summer is high season. High Technology.
If you’ve had an encounter with a wild animal – a bird stunned by hitting a window, a fox hit by a car, or a family of raccoons unexpectedly found residing in your attic – you know how hard it can be to find help. Animal Help Now is the first nationwide response system for wildlife emergencies.
(Do you know how many times a day wildliferehabilitators say that, especially in the summer? But in the context of 10,000 Birds, I’m not the only rehabber out here with stories to tell. Normally it’s in the context of: “Another Mourning Dove ? Didn’t I just take in eight Mourning Doves last week?
This one comes from Vonda Lee Morton, a wildliferehabilitator who runs Laurens Wildlife Rescue outside Atlanta. She and I have never met in person, but thanks to the internet we’ve been through all kinds of wildlife emergencies together. Birds Conservation Great Blue Heron turkey vulture wildliferehabilitators'
The Philadelphia Metro Wildlife Center in Norristown covers four Pennsylvania counties (including Philadelphia) and takes in over 3000 animals a year. Licensed wildliferehabilitator and Assistant Director Michele Wellard relayed this story: In the spring a few years back, a man cut down a tree on his property outside Philadelphia.
“Here’s an idea for a blog,” wrote Donna Osburn, a wildliferehabilitator from Kentucky. What’s your best misidentification of a bird?”. Rehabbers are constantly receiving birds misidentified by their finders; and on occasion some of us even receive birds we misidentify ourselves. This is a great topic.
The bird is just chilling out, waiting for the urge to fly. The bird below is also waiting, but not to fly. One might assume this is a falconry bird, but it’s not. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of birds knows the efficiency and delicacy of their respiratory systems. Now imagine you have the lungs of a bird.
Birds have no boobs. Birds hatch out of eggs, like some species of snakes, who also have no boobs, although with a snake the fact is more readily apparent. Not so with birds, who are taken care of by either the mother or both parents until they are old enough to fly. No birds feed their young milk.
I am so happy to be back on 10,000 birds – I have missed Mike and Corey and my fellow Beat Writers! Normally I rant about environmental dangers and describe heartwarming/mind-boggling/headscratching wild bird rescues. Two wildlife biologists brought me a Golden Eagle inside a metal pipe.” However… Tracy starts us off. “A
Normally wildliferehabilitators try not to give these kinds of directions. Put the baby birds in the nest. Birds nestling birds Northern Mockingbirds wildliferehabilitators' We say things like, “Just pick him up and put him back in his nest,” or “Leave him alone, the parents are around.”
It’s a rough world for wildlife. Part of a wildliferehabilitator’s job description should be a willingness to have your heart smashed to bits over and over again. Part of a wildliferehabilitator’s job description should be a willingness to have your heart smashed to bits over and over again.
The campaign to provide one of two brothers who almost singlehandedly care for the injured birds of Delhi, India, has been extended. Do you love birds? They have compassion for all creatures, and need your help to keep up their wildlife rescue work. With thanks from the wildlife of Delhi… Photos courtesy of Al Jazeera.
“I’ve seen her around, when I was setting my traps,” said the trapper himself, who brought her to Tamarack Wildlife Center , in Saegertown, PA. This is why certain wildliferehabilitators end up misanthropic and homicidal. She is a medicine bird. Just the other day I was saying that I hope I never catch her.”.
Last time it was birds and bling. Now it’s birds AS bling. Normally wildliferehabilitators do not go around wearing birds on purpose. Swifts and swallows are notoriously hard to raise and/or rehabilitate, so rehabbers who don’t specialize in them tend to lose their heads when they’re successful. “I
“It is next to impossible to persuade people in India to donate money for injured raptors,” says Nadeem Shehzad, co-founder of Wildlife Rescue , a registered non-profit in the Chawri Bazar area of Old Delhi. The first injured bird Nadeem and Mohammad ever found was a Black Kite.
This week’s guest blog was written by Linda Hufford, who has been a wildliferehabilitator specializing in raptors for over twenty years. She runs Birds of Texas Rehabilitation Center in Austin County, Texas. Penalties would be swift and severe for any type of violation, including huge fines and immediate removal.
Wildliferehabilitators are not known for our bling. People who work with wildlife wearing nice clothes? People who work with wildlife wearing nice clothes? asked Marge Gibson, when I asked a group of bird rehabbers about their bling experiences. As for nice clothing … right! Oh my, where do I start?”
There are few sights more wrenching to a wildliferehabilitator than a convulsing, lead-poisoned bird. In what some might see as an unlikely alliance, wildliferehabilitators, veterinarians, and – yes – hunters have banded together to convince those who hunt to use copper bullets instead of lead.
Everyone loves baby birds; 10,000 Birds even had a Baby Bird Week once upon a time! Baby birds are cuteness personified, possibly even more so than other baby animals, including human babies, and pose interesting questions of survival and development. Aren’t they usually in their nest with their parents?”
Okay, folks, today we will be discussing one of those internet pass-arounds which are meant to fill everyone with joy and inspiration, but which make wildliferehabilitators look for the nearest wall against which to bang our heads. Here is the text, taken verbatim: The eagle has the longest lifespan among birds. Woolen booties.
This is what happens to countless birds each year when they land the wrong way on power distribution lines and poles. But occasionally people see it – especially when it’s a hard-to-miss bird like this Bald Eagle. You can find a whole page of information on bird electrocutions on the US Fish and Wildlife Service website.
But be it a mouse, bird, bat, gecko, kitten … it’s a very bad way to go, and no creature should have to suffer death by torture. “My My very first rescue was a House Sparrow caught in a glue trap,” says Donna Osburn, a wildliferehabilitator in Kentucky. Freeing birds from glue traps is not easy. “I
I’d released birds there. I knew the wildlife. I have a book about injured wildlife coming out soon, and I couldn’t buy better publicity.”. This unlucky/lucky young Red-tailed Hawk was found and taken to Red Creek Wildlife Care in Pennsylvania. The trap had been set in the woods right next to my house. Arrest me.
Look in the middle, just over the trees: there’s a big flock of birds up there. Such is the sad truth of die-hard wildliferehabilitators, who can’t even go on a simple bike ride without feeling compelled to rescue birds who either don’t exist or turn out to be perfectly healthy. Same thing with the photo below.
“OOOOOOOklahoma where the birds come sweepin’ down the plain…” I know – it’s supposed to be the wind, not the birds. I recently traveled to Oklahoma to help spread the word of wildlife, finding all kinds of adventure along the way. Tulsa area wildliferehabilitators are awesome.
By the time August rolls around, wildliferehabilitators are fried. There have been months of late-night phone calls, hordes of orphans, and lots of less-than-satisfying encounters with the public, who, shall we say, don’t always have the best interests of wildlife at heart.
Nadeem Shehzad and his brother Mohammad Saud take in about 1400 injured birds per year in Delhi, India – an enormous number. Through the internet, they have forged bonds with other wildlife rehabililators throughout the world. Conservation India wildliferehabilitators' Will you help?
“We had a call one morning about a snake and a hawk,” says Tom Sweets, the executive director and chief rescuer of the Key West Wildlife Center , located at the very tip of Florida. The snake was wrapped firmly around the hawk’s tail, neck, and wings, and had enough strength to immobilize the bird but not to kill him.
Even the most touchy-feely, circle-of-lifey, we’re-all-one-with-nature wildliferehabilitators hate them. Why am I posting a photo of a hippoboscid on a Red-tailed Tropicbird, a bird I’ve never rehabbed? Birds flat flies hawks hippoboscids wildliferehabilitator'
“Okay, fellow songbird rehabbers,” wrote Vonda Lee Morton of Laurens Wildlife Rescue on her FaceBook page. “Is Sometimes bird rehabbers who end up with tiny, semi-feathered little mystery birds end up playing a game called “Name That Bird.”. Hence: Name That Bird. Is this a Song Sparrow ? Nearly inaudible.”.
It’s a beautiful Spring morning… humming insects, calling birds. Maggie Ciarcia, a solo wildliferehabilitator in Carmel, NY specializing in small mammals and game birds, received a notice from New York State Electric and Gas that tree trimming was scheduled for her neighborhood and someone would contact her.
A wildliferehabilitator friend, newly licensed, recently called to ask if he could feed a recovering Turkey Vulture anything besides defrosted rodents. In any case: joining the already-packaged food items in my freezer are wild birds who didn’t make it. Birds raptors turkey vulture wildliferehabilitators'
When my book “ Flyaway: How A Wild Bird Rehabber Sought Adventure and Found Her Wings ” came out in 2009, one of my favorite reviews was by Corey Finger of 10,000 Birds. Instead there were glorious photos of healthy birds in their natural habitats. and ended up with posts like “Do Not Feed Baby Birds Ham.” .
That particular summer I had what seemed like 40 or 50,000 patients, and I was whining about how difficult it was to deal with large, stress-prone birds when they were starting to feel better. When birds are down and out, this is not a problem. When birds are down and out, this is not a problem. Others, not so much.
However: they are not wild birds, and have no idea how to survive outside captivity. If you are determined to release white doves at your ceremony, it is essential to make sure you can afford to hire people who will release strong, healthy birds who at least have a chance of returning home to their roost. This is an important question.
On August 21st, Maryjane Angelo of Skye’s Spirit WildlifeRehabilitation in Pennsylvania received a call from a man who said his nephew was standing in the middle of a rural road, guarding a Bald Eagle. The bird usually turns out to be a hawk, vulture, exotic chicken, or sometimes a pigeon. Will he be okay?” Please help!
She had wanted one for a long time, but I was convinced I would end up taking care of it, plus there were carnivorous birds in my house. Wildliferehabilitators all have their own cuteness appreciation levels, and black vultures send me over the top. She fears neither oversized canines nor dark, hunched birds with hooked beaks.
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