In this edition of News from the Mews, you'll find:
• This year's Baby Bird Season is definitely one for the books!
• Facts & Stats from one of our busiest seasons ever.
• A fond farewell to our original Ambassador.
• What this year's 4th of July brought to our door.
• Two miracles that took place within our hospital walls.
Read on for details...
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We are collectively breathing a sigh of relief—we made it through June! For those of you who don't know, traditionally June is the toughest month of Baby Bird Season. It's the time when we usually receive the bulk of our patients and are literally bursting at the seams with birds.
In a typical year, we admit 450-500 birds in May, followed by 600 or more new birds in June before trending downward again in July with an average of 400 admits. We then sigh with relief in August as the average falls to just 200 new birds being admitted.
This year has been one for the books. We have already admitted over 2,000 birds this year. In May alone we admitted almost 600 birds followed by another 528 birds in June. Our typical downward trend is holding true so far in July, although there is usually a second wave that crests mid-to-late July. Since things kicked off a lot earlier this year than in any previous year in memory, the hope is that we've already seen this bump. (Fingers crossed!)
Here's to easing through the rest of this season so we can focus on getting all those birds back into the wild!
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Fun Facts from the Front Lines |
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We've admitted over 2,000 birds so far this year—over 1,400 of them just since April 19th when Hospital Manager Katie declared Baby Bird Season 2021 officially underway!
78 different species have come through our doors since April with over 120 species in total this year!
Our Raptor Team has 18 raptors currently in care (11 of which are baby Barn Owls) having already treated and released another 52!
Our Phone Team is averaging over 50 calls per day!
Our volunteers are feeding 200 babies onsite each and every day!
Our Field Rescue Team has been averaging 7 birds per week while we've already released over 305 babies back into the wild!
We've already released over 3 dozen waterbirds to the Laguna de Santa Rosa. After falling from their nests on W 9th Street, we provided critical care and triage, then transported them to our friends at International Bird Rescue for further care prior to release. So far, our Transport Team has taken over 40 trips there, logging a whopping 7,000+ miles!
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All in all, it's been a really busy time here at BRC. We are so grateful for the dedicated volunteers who have been willing and able to come back to support the heroic efforts of our small but mighty staff!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who already made a gift this Baby Bird Season. We truly wouldn't be making it through the season without you!
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It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Arnold, one of our two Turkey Vulture Ambassadors. Arnold was the patriarch of our BRC family. At the ripe old age of 39, he was one of our very first Ambassadors, arriving in 1982. On July 2nd, we had to say goodbye to this strong, yet gentle giant of the bird world.
In his nearly four decades of service, Arnold helped to educate and inspire countless children and adults. Turning 'ewwws' into 'awwws', he truly changed the way visitors viewed Turkey Vultures, teaching them about the importance of vultures as nature's clean-up crew, how beautiful and fascinating they truly are as a species, and winning them over with his inquisitive mind and striking good looks.
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He spent his entire life here on Chanate with BRC, a very long and happy one as he got to know each handler, pose in the sun, and hang out in the Lanai with Barf, his fellow TUVU. He really did make an impression on so many who arrived at BRC thinking Turkey Vultures were ugly and gross only to change that opinion as Arnold showed off his beautiful feathers and majestic heraldic pose.
Arnold took our evacuations the past several years in stride and you just knew it was going to be a good day when he was out, basking in the sun, as calm as could be, and simply enjoying his time with us. He will be dearly missed, but now he is soaring, unencumbered. Fly free, Arnie.
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Not Everyone Celebrated the 4th... |
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Over the Fourth of July weekend, our hospital received over a dozen Barn Owl babies! Two of them came from confirmed firework areas where they were most likely scared from the safety of their nests, and that is two too many.
This had not been a particularly hot weekend where we might expect the babies to bail out due to the unduly high temperatures inside nesting cavities or nest boxes (that would come later on the weekend of the 9th-11th!)—but all of them were suffering from dehydration.
This picture may look like an adorable (though alien-like!) baby Barn Owl with an inordinate amount of fluffy down, but our clinic staff saw a very different picture. The eyes were sunken and dull. In addition, instead of screaming at us as we conducted our initial exam, this youngster was quite docile and when he opened his mouth, it was pale and tacky inside, all signs of dehydration.
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When we checked his abdomen, it was like a wrinkled prune instead of being nicely rounded and smooth. These are all signs of dehydration and not at all what we find in healthy, well-fed babies.
Luckily these babies came to the right place—even though getting them back on track is not as quick and easy a fix as simply administering fluids. This severity of dehydration, just as in humans, can impact their internal bodily functions, so a slow and steady recovery over several days or more is required. We do administer fluids—and usually more than once—and we also make sure there are no other obvious injuries or broken bones, and we test for internal parasites.
Ideally, we want babies like these to behave more like this video!
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This group of 11 Barn Owl babies seemed to open the floodgates of birds coming in with conditions we see more typically later in the year when we get young raptors who are emaciated because they did not follow their parents to new hunting grounds.
Time will tell us more about why we are running into our more medically intense winter kind of cases so early in the year. We definitely started our baby season earlier than expected—and more intensely than usual—so perhaps our whole timeline this year has moved up. Studies show that migration patterns no longer match the timeline of the food sources necessary for birds to thrive. We also know that more and more habitat has been destroyed by wildfires and redirected for human use and away from wildlife, so those migrating and relying on certain oases may arrive only to find fire decimation, concrete or structures instead. Added to that are the prolonged periods of drought we are experiencing which only add to the scarcity of food sources and water supplies.
No matter what the cause or causes, we are definitely seeing more medically intense cases—including severe dehydration—than we are used to seeing.
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Always Here...For Them And For You! |
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If you received our summer mailer, you know the story of two special miracles that came through our doors last year—one a baby Scrub Jay whose left wing was nearly amputated after being attacked first by a free-roaming cat and then by a crow. His injuries were seriously life-threatening, including a broken wing and deep lacerations all the way down to the bone that exposed the shoulder joint and severed skin, muscles and tendons.
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And then there was this Nuttall's Woodpecker who had also been attacked by a free-roaming cat. When she came to us, her entire right side was caked with blood—but boy, was she feisty! She had sustained a fractured keel (chest) and a severe puncture wound that had extended all the way into the chest cavity leaving her beating heart exposed to the naked eye.
Despite the severity of their injuries, both these birds recovered and were released back to the wild thanks to the expert care they received here at BRC.
Your unwavering support makes this work possible.
Your gifts save lives. Thank you!
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In addition to the many hazards our native wild birds normally face, climate change is having a real and lasting impact on them. As our fire season is getting longer and longer each year and our water supplies are getting more and more scarce, the patterns we are seeing now may become the new "normal". It's not unlikely that more and more birds are going to be relying on us for care for much longer periods of the year as their food and water sources are impacted.
You can make a life-saving difference.
Seriously dehydrated patients remain with us for a minimum of a week. Their care averages $150 each week, even more if they have other injuries.
After being attacked by cats, birds require hospital stays averaging 30 days. With the daily cost of medical care, food and supplements running almost $17 per day per bird, it costs costs about $500 for the duration of their stay.
Your gifts will ensure they continue to get all the help they need!
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If you prefer, you can mail a check to:
The Bird Rescue Center
PO Box 475
Santa Rosa, CA 95402
Your gift will make a life-saving difference.
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The Bird Rescue Center | 707/ 523-2473 | Email
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— STAY CONNECTED WITH BRC —
#BirdRescueCenterLove #SaveBirdRescueCenter
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