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 213

Minnesota Wounded Montana Wildlife Rehabilitation 213

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 135

Bats Wildlife Rehabilitation Missouri Montana 135

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 160

Wildlife Rehabilitation Tennessee Raised Wildlife 160

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 162

Wildlife Rehabilitation Rescue Killing 2012 162

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 255

Wildlife Rehabilitation Emotional Woodpeckers Hunting 255

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

Alex, who publishes the bird and wildlife blog Birdland West , wants to share sincere feelings about a species near and dear to the hearts of many of us… I’m new to birding, and I’ve lived in urban areas for many years where the bird population is mainly crows and pigeons. It was still alive.

Seattle 214

Seattle Wildlife Rehabilitation Rescue Dogs 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2020

Faithful 10,000 Birds readers will remember Suzie as our wildlife rehabilitation beat writer. Trying to stop her is her furious husband and the authorities, and helping her is a smitten tech guy and an underground railroad of fellow wildlife rescuers. It’s a funny, suspenseful road trip with lots of wildlife. And birders!

Wildlife Rehabilitation 258

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eagles Wildlife 258

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 142

Ohio Adoptable Emotional 2019 142

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 were not aware of wildlife laws, and thought they could raise and release them. This summer Lisa raised three orphaned Common Ravens.

Raised 234

Raised Mice Wildlife Rehabilitation Squirrels 234

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 257

Puffins Birds Groups West Virginia 257

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.

Euthanasia 100

Euthanasia Wildlife Rehabilitation Fowl Birds 100