10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2021

Occasionally I host wildlife rehabilitator vent-fests, where I post a question on Facebook and duly note the rehabber responses. Today’s topic comes from Tracy Anderson in Hawaii: what was the strangest container (or method of transport) in which you have received wildlife? However… Tracy starts us off. “A

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10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2023

An impressive combination of research and artwork, combined with a pragmatic organization aimed towards quick identification, and education, Baby Bird Identification extends the frontiers of bird identification guides and is an important contribution to wildlife rehabilitation literature.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Family Collecting 256

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2021

But there are ways to prevent this situation, and to prevent the constant springtime problem of wildlife being orphaned… like these Barred Owls , above left, and Red-Shouldered Hawks , all of whom were delivered as eggs to Christine’s Critters in Weston, CT, thanks to two different private homeowners’ felling of trees. 5) Display attitude.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Wildlife Game Laws 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2014

It’s a wonder wildlife rehabilitators have any hair left by the end of the summer, as we’ve been so busy tearing it out over people who have found a baby bird and tried to help by squirting milk down his throat or stuffing him with bread. Call a wildlife rehabilitator! No birds feed their young milk.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Wildlife Birds Eggs 255

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2015

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 wildlife rehabilitators look for the nearest wall against which to bang our heads. Wildlife rehabilitators endure. But we don’t need to get rid of old beaks. Beaks endure.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Eagles Wildlife Bears 232

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2021

The Philadelphia Metro Wildlife Center in Norristown covers four Pennsylvania counties (including Philadelphia) and takes in over 3000 animals a year. Licensed wildlife rehabilitator 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.

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Wildlife Philadelphia Wildlife Rehabilitation Woodpeckers 260

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2013

Violation of the law would be punishable by substantial fines, plus the cat owners would be required to perform community service at a local wildlife rehabilitation facility. They’d also have to pay for every aspect of care the injured bird requires, as well as the emotional suffering of the wildlife rehabilitator!”.

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10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2014

Normally wildlife rehabilitators try not to give these kinds of directions. Birds nestling birds Northern Mockingbirds wildlife rehabilitators' We say things like, “Just pick him up and put him back in his nest,” or “Leave him alone, the parents are around.”

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Transported Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Wildlife 213

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2021

Jayne Neville, a former wildlife rehabilitator specializing in songbirds, moved from Connecticut to Florida and immediately began making the acquaintance of all the birds in the area. Doesn’t the magnitude of the situation seem overwhelming? It’s not.

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Bald Eagle Wildlife Rehabilitation Rabbits Wildlife 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2015

This week’s guest blog was written by Linda Hufford, who has been a wildlife rehabilitator specializing in raptors for over twenty years. She runs Birds of Texas Rehabilitation Center in Austin County, Texas. As a wildlife rehabilitator, I’ve used many of their gathered facts to improve my bird care.

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Collecting Wildlife Rehabilitation Solomon Islands Texas 240

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 31, 2014

This one comes from Vonda Lee Morton, a wildlife rehabilitator 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 wildlife rehabilitators'

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10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2015

Do you know how many times a day wildlife rehabilitators say that, especially in the summer? Hey – I’m not the only rehabber out here. (Do Normally it’s in the context of: “Another Mourning Dove ? Didn’t I just take in eight Mourning Doves last week? Am I the only rehabber in this entire state who does Mourning Doves?”).

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10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2016

If the bird is truly orphaned and needs help, the best advice is the shortest: take her to a wildlife rehabilitator. Need more information while you’re finding a licensed wildlife rehabilitator? Curious about the time, skill, and knowledge it takes to successfully raise wild birds?

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Raised Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Monkeys 189

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2016

If the bird is truly orphaned and needs help, the best advice is the shortest: take her to a wildlife rehabilitator. Need more information while you’re finding a licensed wildlife rehabilitator? Curious about the time, skill, and knowledge it takes to successfully raise wild birds?

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Raised Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Monkeys 189

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2016

I asked a group of wildlife rehabilitators: “What are some of the Worst Bird Myths? An injured or orphaned bird must be taken to a wildlife rehabilitator as soon as humanly possible, or they will have little chance of surviving. Thanks to the Internet not only don’t they die, they’re joined by more. Feel free to vent!”.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Porcupines Raccoons Birds 178

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 30, 2015

Through the internet, they have forged bonds with other wildlife rehabililators throughout the world. In March, rehabbers in the United States will gather at the annual National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association conference to make contacts, swap information, and learn new techniques.

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10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2016

Today’s blog was written by Kathy Hershey, co-founder of Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators in Hope, Indiana. Because he’ll always want to seek kids and shoelaces and risk danger to himself, Parker has a new life at our wildlife rehabilitation center, and his story puts a face on these amazing birds.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Mice Indiana Game 132

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2016

By the time August rolls around, wildlife rehabilitators 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.

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10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

This story comes from Melissa Gillmer, a zookeeper and wildlife rehabilitator at the Bear Mountain Zoo. Birds black vultures Ospreys Turkey Vultures wildlife rehabilitators' The zoo is part of Bear Mountain State Park , a glorious expanse of mountainous land on the west side of the Hudson River in New York.

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Fish Wildlife Rehabilitation Bears Zoos 184

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2013

Even the most touchy-feely, circle-of-lifey, we’re-all-one-with-nature wildlife rehabilitators hate them. Birds flat flies hawks hippoboscids wildlife rehabilitator' See that gross bug on the Red-tailed Tropicbird ? It’s a hippoboscid, otherwise known as a flat fly. I hate them.

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10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2014

This is more of a cautionary tale about one of the perils lying in wait for wildlife rehabilitators who decide to take shortcuts. Birds releasing birds wildlife rehabilitators' Many summers ago I received a young Red-tailed Hawk who had been found standing on the side of the road. Moral of the story: no shortcuts.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Soreing Wildlife Morals 186

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

When using a regular hospital cage, the wildlife rehabilitator reaches in, picks up the bird, transfers him to another cage, cleans the original one, then returns the bird. Birds wild bird caging wild bird hospital wildlife rehabilitators' Thanks, Dad! I hope others can benefit, too.

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10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2013

A wildlife rehabilitator friend, newly licensed, recently called to ask if he could feed a recovering Turkey Vulture anything besides defrosted rodents. Birds raptors turkey vulture wildlife rehabilitators' Did I have an answer for him. Normally I feed vultures, as well as hawks and owls, defrosted mice and rats.

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10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

Such is the sad truth of die-hard wildlife rehabilitators, 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. Birds crows wildlife rehabilitators' Maybe one of them is hurt!” I said, abandoning my bike and bushwhacking toward them.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Wounded Abandon 172

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2015

My work as a wildlife rehabilitator over the past forty-five years has allowed me a unique perspective on a disturbing trend. If you see a wild bird in danger, call a wildlife rehabilitator. My father, a lifelong conservationist, spoke those words with reverence when describing the natural world.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Rescue Wildlife 189

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2014

Wildlife rehabilitators constantly receive lost racing pigeons who are starving, riddled with lice, and suffering from coccidia, trichinosis, or worms. Birds white dove release wildlife rehabilitators' Once released, they will fly a short distance, land, then wait for someone to come feed them. Blow bubbles, people!

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10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2013

No other wildlife rehabilitators could respond to the call, and Lisa was two hours away. Birds Cooper''s Hawks eagles wildlife rehabilitates' Erin Baker is another rehabber, as well as the Environmental Educator at Teatown Lake Reservation. She gave me the cell phone number of Paul, the owner of the yard. I asked him. “I

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Eagles Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Ecuador 184

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2013

Normally wildlife rehabilitators 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. Last time it was birds and bling. Now it’s birds AS bling.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Wildlife Raised 226

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

A recent thread on my Raptorcare listserv produced one wildlife rehabilitator’s nightmarish photo of a leghold trap firmly clutching the leg of a Great Horned Owl. Birds Conservation Great Horned Owl leghold traps Red-tailed Hawk wildlife rehabilitators' No owl, just the leg. This website will show you how.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Rhode Island New Jersey Wildlife 230

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

This guest blog was written by Debbie Souza-Pappas, the director and founder of Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation in Price, Utah. Please visit Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation’s Facebook page and website , as well as the website of Payson Family Pet Hospital.

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10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2015

They have compassion for all creatures, and need your help to keep up their wildlife rescue work. Nadeem has been given a scholarship by the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, and is going on an educational tour of the raptor centers of our East Coast. No donation is too small to help.

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10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

There are few sights more wrenching to a wildlife rehabilitator than a convulsing, lead-poisoned bird. In what some might see as an unlikely alliance, wildlife rehabilitators, veterinarians, and – yes – hunters have banded together to convince those who hunt to use copper bullets instead of lead.

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Hunters Wildlife Rehabilitation Hunting Legislation 179

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2014

My very first rescue was a House Sparrow caught in a glue trap,” says Donna Osburn, a wildlife rehabilitator in Kentucky. Birds birds glue traps glue traps sticky traps wildlife rehabilitator' The grocery manager at a local store was using them to catch the birds that got in the building.

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10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2013

Wildlife rehabilitators all have their own cuteness appreciation levels, and black vultures send me over the top. Birds black vultures rabbits wildlife rehabilitators' Recently I rescued a juvenile black vulture who had been walking around a retirement community for two days, with no other vultures in sight.

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Rabbits Wildlife Rehabilitation Rabbit Rescue Rescue 233

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2015

Google your town, county, or state, find your closest wildlife rehabilitator, and send them a donation. Why not celebrate the 4th of July by helping the struggling wildlife (and wildlife rehabbers) of our country? Please – help them! Ask if they need help.

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10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 21, 2016

At that point I didn’t know about 10,000 Birds; I had been a wildlife rehabilitator and mother for years, with no time to surf the net for amazing birding sites. Corey is a birder, not a rehabber, but he understood what I was trying to convey – what makes rehabbers tick, and why we keep going, and why we need help.

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10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2013

I called my wildlife rehabilitator friend Maggie Ciarcia, who, yes, has rehabbed baby wild mice before. Birds crows mice wildlife rehabilitator' “We looked it up on the internet,” said one. I dragged out the heating pad, some Kleenex, and a 1 cc syringe. We diluted the Pediasure, warmed it, and fed him drop by drop.

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