International Bird Rescue

Photo by Bill Steinkamp

Last week, we brought you the story of a rookery tree at the Port of Los Angeles that had blown over in high winds. The L.A. Harbor Department’s tree division appeared on the scene quickly and helped us to save 15 baby birds that had fallen from their nests: 12 Black-crowned Night Herons and three Snowy Egrets.

Volunteer photographer Bill Steinkamp and staff rehabilitation technician Kylie Clatterbuck took photos and video of these birds now in our care (see below).

We’re also pleased to report that the Port of Los Angeles has given a $1,000 gift to care for these baby birds! We sincerely appreciate their multi-level support, from rescue to donation. Thank you!

How can you help? Each year, both our wildlife care centers in California receive hundreds (even thousands) of orphaned baby birds, from ducklings to goslings and baby egrets like the ones in this video. A gift of just $10 a month helps us to provide the warmth, food and expert medical care these animals need before they are released into the wild. Find out how you can become an International Bird Rescue supporter here.

Photo by Dr. Rebecca Duerr

This Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia) was rescued by Long Beach Animal Control unable to fly. We found him to have not only a broken right wing, but also a broken left leg. Our veterinarian, Dr. Rebecca Duerr, performed orthopedic surgery Sunday to repair the leg while the wing heals in a wrap. The photo below shows the left leg post-operation.

The largest tern species, Caspian Terns feed mainly on fish via plunge diving and primarily nest on offshore islands. They are commonly seen in Southern California, and our organization has deep experience in caring for them. In 2006, International Bird Rescue assisted in the recovery effort of hundreds of dead baby Caspian and Elegant Terns washed off a barge docked in Long Beach.

In the wake of that disaster, we raised a few young Caspian Tern survivors — a challenge, given they were resistant to learning how to catch live fish and often begged. To give them the best chance of survival, we released these birds at a Caspian Tern colony in the Salton Sea, where they would be surrounded by other young birds learning to fish.

We’ll keep you posted on this tern’s condition as its wing and leg heals.

Additional reading on Caspian Terns:

—Species profile via All About Birds

—Audubon efforts to restore tern habitat in the San Francisco Bay

—Los Angeles Times coverage on the baby tern barge incident from 2006

A few months ago, we launched the Pelican Aviary Project, our first foray into the world of online crowdfunding via Indiegogo. With a big help from both our local supporters and pelican enthusiasts from Hawaii to Norway, we raised over $16,000 for a new aviary at the San Francisco Bay Oiled Bird Care and Education Center in Fairfield, Calif. (Click here for a list of aviary supporters who helped us surpass our original 15K goal.)

Why do we need this project?

Several years ago, we built a large aviary for rehabilitating injured aquatic species such as pelicans. The enclosure was constructed to the highest standards possible with the funding we had at the time. But with the ever-increasing number of pelicans coming to us, we need to do some major renovations. Price tag: an estimated $45,000.

We’ve received generous support from the Solano County Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network … and you!

And we’re excited to report that we’ve broken ground for the new and improved aviary. Pelicans being treated at this facility were recently transported to our Los Angeles center to complete their rehabilitation while renovations are underway.

Here’s an update from San Francisco Bay center manager Michelle Bellizzi:

With the help of truly amazing people — including every staff member, our interns, every volunteer, as well as our neighbors at Solano County Roofing, Hudson Excavation and D&T Fiberglass — our pelican aviary prep work is complete, and we are now just waiting for the concrete work to begin. A few days early, no less!

Among the tasks our intrepid team has completed:

-Dug trenches for relocating the electrical outlets
-Mowed and cleaned the yard to make way for equipment
-Moved filters and pumps
-Moved two 35 foot-by-10 foot fiberglass pools

All of this work and more is in addition to taking care of birds, building duckling boxes, repairing our other aviaries, cleaning the center and preparing it for “busy season.”

Here are some photos of the project and the team at work:

These amazing local businesses were on hand for their expertise:

-Hudson Excavation donated both time and materials toward helping us remove the west fence to provide access for the contractors. Our California Department of Fish and Wildlife volunteers finished the job.

-D&T Fiberglass disassembled the pools in addition to staying for several hours to help us move the pools.

-Solano County Roofing not only donated a forklift to help us, but also donated their time and brought in “The Big Gun” — a giant, all-terrain behemoth with 12-foot forks. This came in handy when the forklift was not quite as effective as we’d hoped. The Big Gun, expert driver and our makeshift crew were able to move all four pool halves in one-tenth the time it would have taken our crew alone, with about one-tenth the blood, sweat and tears.

In the coming weeks we’ll keep you posted on our progress. Thanks!

Brown Pelican photo (above) and American White Pelican photo (top) by Bill Steinkamp.

Mother’s Day is fast approaching! And chances are that Mom is a wildlife lover, too. A symbolic duckling adoption is a meaningful way to show your gratitude in honor or in memory of Mom.

This year, we’ve created a customized, vintage e-postcard that comes with any duckling adoption of $25. With your gift, we’ll email this postcard to Mom — or to another recipient in memory of Mom — by this Friday. And your personalized message will be included in this custom e-postcard!

International Bird Rescue’s wildlife care centers in California care for hundreds of Mallard Ducklings each year. Orphaned and without their mother, they each need food, warmth and TLC before they’re big enough to be released into the wild.

Update: We have a goal of 50 duckling adoptions by the end of this week, and we’re currently about two-thirds of the way there. Can you help us meet this goal and care for these ducklings?

Note: While can still also send a hard mail copy of the postcard to Mom, please note that mailings may not arrive in time for Mother’s Day. All e-postcards will be emailed out by Friday, May 10.

Warmest Wishes this Mother’s Day,

International Bird Rescue

Thanks to Cheryl Reynolds and Isabel Luevano for filming feeding time at our San Francisco Bay center!

Consider it the month of the goose for International Bird Rescue. As local media helped us to solve a cruelty case involving a goose shot through the neck with an arrow, we also received into care this Domestic Goose from a feral population at a housing development near Suisun Marina, one much beloved by the locals who monitor the flock.

As you can see, the bird was observed at the Suisun Marina in January of this year with a large mass on its face. After several months of attempts to capture the bird and get it the medical attention it clearly needed, local rescuers were able to bring the bird to our center for care on April 7.

On our initial exam, the bird was found to be very thin, although with no other injuries other than the large mass on its head. Prior to surgery, the team attempted to make the goose comfortable, as the mass was pulling the facial skin to the right, making it difficult for the bird to blink. X-rays were taken to determine if the goose had any additional tumors/masses that could be seen on X-ray. No other masses were found, and the bird was scheduled for surgery the following day.

Veterinarian Dr. Rebecca Duerr performed the “lumpectomy” surgery on April 8. The surgery went very well, despite some significant blood loss. The bird recovered well and immediately began drinking and preening — behavior that it may well have been struggling with when the tumor was attached to its head. The tumor weighed 70g, nearly what we would expect the bird’s entire head to weigh.

The mass has been sent to a laboratory to perform histopathology (microscopic examination of tissue) on it. This will let us know if the mass was a tumor or an abscess. If it was a tumor, the test will determine whether it’s malignant.

Post-surgery, the bird is recovering well, although we are closely monitoring its ability to self-feed in addition to monitoring the surgical site. It’s currently housed in an aviary with a companion bird: the goose recovering from an arrow wound.

“When life starts to unravel, get your knitting sticks out and stitch it up.” ~ Unknown

Love to knit? Then we’ve got a great way to stock up on some great knitting yarn and help save birds at the same time.

In honor of Earth Day 2013, Knit Picks will donate a $1 for every unit sold of their recycled wool line. That’s 15% off their usual prices!

We’re so grateful to Knit Picks for choosing International Bird Rescue as their Earth Day beneficiary this year.

May the knitting be with you!

International Bird Rescue is connected throughout the world in many ways. One of those ways is through our response team members who work at various organizations like the Center for Rehabilitation of Marine Animals-Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, or CRAM-FURG, in Brazil. This wildlife group just responded to an unusual stranding event that brought to them many albatrosses and petrels. Here, Valeria Ruoppolo gives us an update on this event. — Jay Holcomb, executive director

On March 15-23, a mass stranding of unknown causes occurred in Southern Brazil on Cassino Beach, a 48-mile stretch of coastline monitored weekly by National Park’s staff. More than 150 seabirds were found:

—52 dead Procellariformes (a seabird order that includes petrels and shearwaters)

—58 dead Yellow-nosed Albatrosses (Thalassarche clorhynchos). This species is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

—19 live Yellow-nosed Albatrosses

—31 dead White-chinned Petrels (Procellaria aequinoctialis) — listed by the IUCN as vulnerable.

—1 live White-chinned Petrel

All live birds were sent to CRAM-FURG for treatment. All animals showed signs of weakness and dehydration, and were stabilized by treating those conditions. The first nine albatrosses were released on March 27, and eight remain in care to be released in the next few days.

An investigation into the possible causes of this stranding is being conducted by Centro de Estudos Costeiros, Limnológicos e Marinhos da UFRGS (CECLIMAR), in Imbé, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

The organizations involved in the rescue and release of the live birds are: Parque Nacional da Lagoa do Peixe, CRAM-FURG, Projeto Albatroz and Aiuká.

International Bird Rescue’s Dave Weeshoff (left) with L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino. Photos by Bill Steinkamp.

Many thanks to Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who on Monday visited the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center in San Pedro, operated by International Bird Rescue.

Here, Councilman Buscaino gets a tour of the facility and aviaries with International Bird Rescue’s Dave Weeshoff.

Buscaino also observed an egret in care (shown here with IBR staff member Kelly Berry) as well as the intake of an oiled Common Murre with staff member Neil Uelman.

Photo by Isabel Luevano

This winter, our San Francisco Bay center has received into care a few injured Common Goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula) — beautiful diving ducks that winter in the open inland waters of our area.

This male Common Goldeneye was brought to us emaciated with a laceration underneath its mandible, rehabilitation technician Isabel Luevano reports. The injury created a piercing which caused the bird’s tongue to fall through it, rendering this animal unable to eat.

Our staff veterinarian, Dr. Rebecca Duerr, sutured the wound, and now the bird is “eating fish like there’s no tomorrow,” Luevano reports. The goldeneye is recovering in a pelagic pool and needs to both gain weight and heal its wound before it can be released.

Below, a photo of another Common Goldeneye cared for by our San Francisco Bay center earlier this season (photo by Cheryl Reynolds).