10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Of course there were other Trumpeter Swans out there, but not many. This morning’s news had this: During this year’s open of waterfowl season, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center admitted more trumpeter swans for bullet wounds than ever before. You see this big white thing and, of course, you shoot it.

Minnesota 215

Minnesota Wounded Montana Wildlife Rehabilitation 215

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2012

Not having a smart phone, I called a friend in New York and had him Google up some wildlife rehabilitators’ numbers, but they were all out of service. Leaving it there did not seem like a good option. A different Hoary Bat, on a better day. It turns out, helping a bat is hard. Animal Control was on the way.

Bats 136

Bats Wildlife Rehabilitation Missouri Montana 136

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Today’s post is written by Monte Merrick, wildlife rehabilitator and co-director of the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center/bird ally x in Arcata, CA. I happened to work at that facility, for International Bird Rescue at the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center , part of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.

Los Angeles 246

Los Angeles Killing Wildlife Rehabilitation San Francisco 246

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

This blog was written by Sherry Turner Teas, a rehabber in Chattanooga, Tennessee: It started out as a normal day for a wildlife rehabilitator here in Tennessee – giving medicine, cleaning cages, and feeding baby birds. After a closer look I realized it wasn’t a blueberry at all, but a BIG black spider!

Wildlife Rehabilitation 161

Wildlife Rehabilitation Tennessee Raised Wildlife 161

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2015

This post is from Lisa Beth Acton, a wildlife rehabilitator in Accord, NY. Lisa brings her to all kinds of gatherings to spread the word of wildlife (see Xena’s Facebook page ). They bring us gifts daily – garbage, of course, marbles they surely stole from some poor child, water bottles, even car parts.

Raised 237

Raised Mice Wildlife Rehabilitation Squirrels 237

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Of all the billions of things that keep wildlife rehabilitators from sleeping at night, public releases are one of the big ones. Releases are magical, of course, and they’re what make our insane way of life worth it, so you want to share the feeling … but not with too big a crowd.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 164

Wildlife Rehabilitation Rescue Killing 2012 164

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2014

I’d seen pictures of them, of course – the stocky, flamboyantly-beaked little seabirds who always seem to be wearing expressions of sympathetic concern – but I’d never seen one “in bird” (the avian equivalent of “in person”). The first time I saw a puffin, it was a revelation. How could you not?

Puffins 274

Puffins Eggs Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle 274

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2012

I like Julie Zickefoose’s art , her writing , her blog , her blog posts here on 10,000 Birds , and, of course, I like birds. As a birder I like to believe that I have amassed a significant quantity of information about birds but Julie, in her labor of love as a wildlife rehabilitator, puts my puny store of bird lore in the shade.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 256

Wildlife Rehabilitation Emotional Woodpeckers Hunting 256

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

Four several years, I’ve been a volunteer at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Usually, the best course is to leave the baby where it is, or to observe for a while from a safe distance. It’s impossible to know, of course, but I like to think some of the photos may be my rescue. It was still alive.

Seattle 217

Seattle Wildlife Rehabilitation Rescue Dogs 217

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2015

I was there for Arts and Birding , a five-day adult course in photography, videography, sketching, painting, writing, or any combination thereof … plus lots of birding. As a wildlife rehabilitator, I am used to dealing with the (sometimes) well-meaning but uninformed public, who ask questions like “Do birds have bones?”

Puffins 259

Puffins Birds Groups West Virginia 259

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

Zickefoose documented the stages of the molt over its eighteen-day course, in her trademark watercolor painting (above right, starting at the bottom and going clockwise). (It’s a thing that happens to some jays and cardinals: looks weird but the feathers are quickly regrown.)

Ohio 144

Ohio Adoptable Emotional 2019 144

Animal Person

SEPTEMBER 5, 2009

I was watching a news segment on a wildlife rehabilitation center here in Florida. Of course, that did not sound promising. It was time to feed the bird of prey who was about to be released and while the rehabber was speaking with the interviewer someone emerged from a walk-in freezer with a tray of baby chicks.

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Euthanasia Wildlife Rehabilitation Fowl Birds 100