Each year, the City of Santa Rosa presents Merit Awards to recognize individuals, businesses and organizations that volunteer to make Santa Rosa a better place to live. This year, BRC has been selected for this honor because of "your outstanding volunteer work in educating the public on stopping the spread of the deadly Salmonella infection within our bird community."

BRC is supported by approximately 120 volunteers who donate close to 25,000 hours each year. The average number of hours each volunteer puts in varies depending on the type of work being done and the season of the year. During Baby Bird Season (May – September) volunteer hours each week can double or triple due to the increase in the number of birds being admitted and treated. On average, a volunteer works 16 hours a month but some work the equivalent of a part or full-time job. Now that is dedication! Of course, during COVID, our volunteer numbers varied even more as we dealt with restrictions and monitored safety concerns. Despite all that, our volunteers have still maintained the same total number of hours—a truly heroic effort!

While this year presented an added challenge associated with the Salmonella epidemic, our volunteers work tirelessly, year after year, caring for those most vulnerable among our avian populations. We are honored to receive this recognition, and it was only possible because of the commitment and efforts of each and every volunteer.

September 4th is International Vulture Day! In honor of this majestic species and our very own Ambassador Barfolomew, we thought we'd share a few fun facts about Turkey Vultures:

Fact 1: Vultures are nature's very own clean-up crew. When vultures consume carrion (dead animals), they help stop the spread of contagious diseases by removing infected carcasses from the environment. Luckily, vultures have a specially adapted digestive system that enables them to consume diseases that may very well kill most other scavengers without falling ill themselves. It's a tough job, but vultures are up for the challenge!

Fact 2: Vultures will projectile vomit at their predators. The foul smell will distract the predator long enough for the vulture to get away. Plus, vomiting helps to “lighten the load” for take-off, so to speak. Guess you know now how Barfolomew got her name!

Fact 3: Vultures have beautiful bald heads. This helps them stay neat and tidy while eating. Having bare heads and necks prevents vultures from soiling their feathers when they dive into a meal of carrion. Plus, it is now hypothesized that these bare heads may also help with thermoregulating - they can hunch up when cold to “cover” their bare necks or stretch out when it's hot to let their baldness shine!

Fact 4: When vultures aren’t soaring across our skies, they can often be found sitting with their wings outstretched on a sunny perch. This posturing is called a “horaltic pose” and it's all about warmth and cleanliness. Sitting outstretched in the sun allows the UV rays to bake bacteria off the birds' feathers. And since Turkey Vultures lower their body temperature by 6℉ at night to save energy, sitting outstretched in the sun first thing in the morning helps them warm up and kick-start their metabolism before starting the day. It's basically coffee for vultures!

Fact 5: It's considered really cool among vultures to poop on their own legs and feet giving them stylish, white-washed, poopy legs. It helps them keep cool and stay clean. Wait... What? How is poop clean, you may be asking yourself? Vultures have highly acidic excrement, so by pooping on their own legs and feet, it helps kill off bacteria they may have stepped in while eating. Additionally, since birds do not have sweat glands to cool off like mammals, vultures defecate on the bare skin of their legs and feet to help with evaporative cooling.

In our last message, we shared with you how incredibly busy Baby Bird Season was. As of the end of August, we are closing in on the 2,400 mark for total number of birds admitted this year. The good news is that August is only slightly above the annual average, having brought us only 218 new patients. We hope this respite continues as we prepare for fall which generally brings us more medically intense injuries.

Even as we look forward to the end of Baby Season, we have vivid reminders that it's not quite over yet. There are still nestlings in our ICU, meaning we will likely not officially end Baby Season until the end of September this year.

You may have read about the County's newest plan to sell the Chanate Campus in the Press Democrat this week. Supervisors have agreed to sell the property in an online auction. There will be two rounds of bidding beginning next Tuesday. The final decision is scheduled for November 16th.

The Bird Rescue board has been working closely with county officials over the years and particularly during each potential sale. Past potential buyers have been very accommodating of our continued presence here on Chanate until such time as they would be breaking ground. We will work to develop a similar accommodation with any new buyer once identified. The sale of the property means a transition of oversight from County to City. Any project plan will require zoning, impact studies and permits prior to the start of construction. As we understand it, these can take 18 months to 2 years or even longer. We are working to have our new facility completed prior to the time any actual development would begin.

Click above to make an online donation, or mail your check to:

The Bird Rescue Center

PO Box 475

Santa Rosa, CA 95402

Your gift will truly make a life-saving difference.