Aquatic Birds in Care

Every year, as our busy wild baby season comes to a close, aquatic birds, who breed elsewhere, come back to the Pacific Coast to overwinter. The famed Aleutian Cackling Geese, Brant, Grebes, Loons, seaducks, dabbling ducks, all use our relatively mild winters with historically food-rich waters to while away the hibernal months.

At Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, the arrival of wintering aquatic birds means a dramatic change in our caseload. Already this Autumn we have provided care for dozens of adult and juvenile aquatic birds.

For adult birds, this season is a time of comparative ease, without the responsibilities of rearing young. For this year’s young, this is their first season in the world of adults, a time of learning – learning to hunt, where to find food, learning their way around the real world, becoming independent.

The real world naturally holds threats – not every juvenile bird lives. Adults die in storms. They are caught by predators. Old age takes its toll as well. Still, it’s rare that we admit patients suffering from these natural calamities and processes.

Most patients are admitted in poor body condition – emaciated, anemic and dehydrated – obviously suffering from starvation.

This year, the usually “productive” California Current is not providing the quantity of fish needed to support the wintering population. As we noted earlier in the year, Common Murres, who raise their young on the North Coast experienced complete colony failure this year due to the absence of appropriate prey fish. (Even at our clinic we are struggling to stay in supply of food to feed our patients, due to this shortage!)

There are other causes of injury. Some of our patients this season were entangled in derelict fishing gear, and no doubt we will treat more. Derelict fishing gear is a global problem that makes itself known locally everywhere.

Typically each year we treat waterfowl, geese and ducks, that have been legally shot by hunters, but not killed, that have been found later by someone else. And sometimes we admit aquatic birds with traumatic injuries that we can’t ascribe to any particular cause – wing fractures, leg fractures  that may be from collisions with human infrastructure, boats, battering surf – we just don’t know.

In all cases, however, our trained staff and purpose-built facilities allow us to provide excellent care for aquatic birds – noe of which would be possible without your generous support. So as we continue through this season, scroll the photos below to see some of our recent and current patients. And get out and enjoy our wintering wild aquatic neighbors! And as usual, if you can help us meet our mission with financial support, please do! We need you!

nosh-nov-2016-5-of-19Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)in care, moments before her release evaluation, demonstrating that explosive flight is well within her capabilities.

nosh-nov-2016-7-of-19Female Northern Shoveler during her release evaluation exam

nosh-nov-2016-8-of-19 Northern Shoveler wing, extended for examination. Note her delicate blue and green speculum.
nosh-nov-2016-13-of-19Northern Shoveler flies free!

wegr-11-18-16-1-of-17Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) feet! Very awkward on land, in the water, these feet become propellers, as the bird swiftly pursues fish for her meals.
wegr-11-18-16-2-of-17Western Grebe wing.
wegr-11-18-16-11-of-17Each bird receives nutritional support, is treated for parasites and given supplemental vitamins while in care.

wegr-11-18-16-15-of-17Like many aquatic bird species, Western grebes are social and seek the comfort and safety of a like-minded community.
wegr-11-18-16-17-of-17Even a Pacific Loon (Gavia pacifica) can be part of the gang!

rel-susc4Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) being released after two weeks in care, regaining lost body weight and strength.

rel-wegr1Another Western Grebe released.
img_4651This Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) collided with a building suffering very little injury. Still this male needed a few days to recover. Upon release in his home territory at Big Lagoon he immediately circled around calling and joined a female, his likely mate.

img_4658An incredible moment as the Kingfisher flew a circle around his caregivers immediately after release.

img_4654Belted Kingfishers, like all aquatic birds, require specialized care. Bird Ally X was founded as a means to bring quality aquatic bird care to the more remote areas of our coast where experience and resources are scant. This male’s care and release at Big Lagoon is a testament to that mission.
palo-rel-21-11-16-2-of-15In an awesome update to a recent story, this Pacific Loon, who was found by HWCC staff on the beach in Samoa entangled in a discarded fishing net, was just released today!
palo-rel-21-11-16-6-of-15  palo-rel-21-11-16-12-of-15Releasing any patient is an immeasurable reward, but in another way we have a direct measure – your support. This Loon’s second chance was bought and paid for by your donation! Thank you!


Your support for our work during every season is critical. We have nearly a dozen aquatic birds in care right now, in addition to our other patients. We anticipate more to come. Each month brings us new challenges – some predictable, like the return of wintering seabirds, others less predictable, such as failing prey fish populations, sudden storms, and other emergencies. Being able to rely on you allows us to prepare for both. Your donation (click here) to help us meet our November goal of $7000 will go directly to the care of these remarkable birds who live so near to us, but whose lives are so different. Thank you!!!

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Big Release Day!

This holiday weekend got off to a great start; filled with the best outcome for our work- multiple releases!

Friday we released 11 of our patients back to their free and wild lives after recovering from being orphaned or injured.

Four Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) juveniles were released. These birds were siblings whose nest was illegally removed by a maintenance person at the request of the homeowner. It’s a crime to remove a migratory songbird’s nest. Most migratory birds are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Sadly, this nest was the second one for this Barn Swallow pair to be destroyed this summer by the same person! Both sets of babies were brought to us to be raised. Of course we explained the law, so hopefully next summer, if the parent birds return to the same location, they might have a chance to raise their own babies!

Also released was a Great Egret (Ardea alba) who’d been found in a ditch, covered in mud and very thin. After a two weeks of care, this bird was doing very well, using our aviary for built specifically for herons and egrets, as well as dabbling ducks. Check out the video of the heron’s release:

A few days ago we admitted for care both a Pileated Woodpecker  (Dryocopus  pileatus) and a Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) who’d collided with windows.

Window strikes can be deadly, especially for a larger bird like a woodpecker, who’s mass increases the force of the impact. There are several things you can do to minimize the risk of a bird colliding with your windows, including stickers, sprays, objects or anything that can make the window either visible or inaccessible. You can go to Cornell  Lab of Ornithology’s website for more ideas on making your windows less dangerous.

Fortunately, both the Woodpecker and the Rail were only disoriented and stunned by their collisions. Only a few days in care were required before they were released. Here’s a video of the Woodpecker:

We also released two Western Gulls (Larus occidentalis) One, an adult, was found unable to fly in a backyard in the community of King Salmon on the edge of Humboldt Bay. She’d been there for a few days, eating chicken scratch. Weak and very thin, the bird was enthusiastic about the fish diet we served. After several days in care she was flying in our gull aviary. After 3 weeks she was ready for freedom!


We met our August goal of $7000! Thank you!! Our goal for September is to build on that, pay summer bills and prepare for winter. You can help! Please click here to DONATE NOW! Thank you!


Released with the adult was a juvenile gull who we admitted several weeks ago. His parents had the misfortune of nesting on the deck of a sail boat in the San Francisco Bay area. When the boat sailed for Humboldt midsummer, they brought this baby with them. Since therew as obviously no way to get himback to his parents, we provided fish and safe housing. Once he was ready to fly we moved him into the aviary with the adult. Both were released on the same day, together.

Here’s a fuzzy video that does at least show their excitement upon release from captivity.

And that’s not all! We also released a California King Snake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) and the last Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) in care from our summer ducklings.

The King Snake had been wrongfully held captive. He only needed time to prove that he knew what his natural food should be and that he was acclimated to life outdoors.

As a late season baby, the Mallard duckling had been alone for a few weeks in care. But released, she was soon in the comapny of her kind at the Arcata marsh, where food is plentiful and the chance to socialize and prepare for winter as a proper Mallard will finish her education.

Each of these wild neighbors would have died without your support. Each of them received the best care we could provide at the only available wildlife clinic on the North coast. Thanks to your generosity and your love for the wild, we are here every single day of the year. If you’d like to help us meet the challenge of our mission, donate today! Thank you!!

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The welcoming committee was slightly outlandish.

In early July, on the beach at Big Lagoon park, a young Common Murre (Uria aalge) was found struggling in the surf. Too small to be in the ocean, certainly too young to be alone, without rescue certain death awaited the young bird.

Common Murres, like most alcids, spend their entire lives on the sea, coming to land only in Spring for the annual rites of renewal. Found all around the Northern Hemisphere (circumpolar), Murres nest in large colonies on rocks, seastacks and remote cliffs that are safe from predators. Before they can fly, when their wings are still quite undeveloped, parents, typically their fathers, lead the chicks from the colony out to sea and good foraging areas.

The ocean is a big place, though, and for any number of reasons, a chick can become separated from her or his parent. Without a father, the only hope these young birds have is to wash up on a beach and be found.

COMU Release Sept 2014 - 02
After a week in care, still sporting the nestling fuzz


Weighing in at 159 grams on his/her first day in care, a heatlamp and food were offered, as well as a quiet place to become accustomed to this sudden turn of events. For the time being, there would be no parent, no rolling swell of the North Pacific, no live fish freshly delivered. For the first two weeks in care, we had to put whole fish in the young seabird’s mouth to ensure s/he was eating.

While the Ancient Mariner’s complaint of “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” may be true for humans, seabirds do drink salt water. A special gland – the salt gland – filters out the excess salinity. Exposure to salt is important for this gland’s development. For this reason, among others, we provide a salted pool for young, growing seabirds.

COMU Release Sept 2014 - 03
Salting the pool


Provided that a juvenile Murre is healthy enough to be housed in the pool without losing waterproofing or body temperature, then treatment is a relatively simple matter of periodic examinations and a lot of fish. This young bird, who at adulthood will weigh a little under two pounds (about 900 grams) ate two-thirds of a pound of fish each day, or about 40 pounds over the course of her/his care.

COMU Release Sept 2014 - 01
In the big pool for the first time


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 02
A growing baby after 8 weeks in care


From less than 200 grams to release, our youngster had to gain nearly 800 grams! Common Murres are wing-propelled “pursuit divers.” This means that they chase down fish underwater, using their wings to move – essentially flying beneath the surface of the sea! When s/he began diving in the pool we offered live fish, so that s/he could begin learning to hunt.

At last, on September 8, the young bird was as ready as s/he’d ever be for release.

COMU Release Sept 2014 - 04
Netting the Common Murre from the pool for release evaluation.


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 13
Rehabilitator Lucinda Adamson evaluates our patient for release.


Humboldt Bay opens into the North Pacific through a channel kept open by constant dredging. Not only does this allow a wide range of vessels to the bay, the channel, known locally as the Jaws, is used by seabirds of many species. At this time of year it is very common to see Common Murre fathers and their young foraging here. We chose this place to release our Murre so that s/he’d be close to his/her own kind, with the hope that they would finish teaching all that we couldn’t. (A 2500 gallon pool in Bayside is not the Pacific Ocean!)

COMU Release Sept 2014 - 90
The “Jaws” connecting Humboldt Bay to the Pacific Ocean. A “feeding frenzy” awaits our patient!


When we got to the rocky bank of the Jaws, the tide was out and the water was unusually calm. Rehabilitator Lucinda Adamson and volunteer Jeannie Gunn made their way down to the edge. A hundred yards out, a large group of birds was feasting upon an unseen school of fish. Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), Double-crested and Brandt’s Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus and Phalacrocorax penicillatus, respectively) Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia) and, most happily, hundreds of Common Murres were all diving and calling. A symphony of Murre calls, as fathers and their young stayed in contact, rang out, louder than all else.

Here’s a short video from that day:


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 19
Out of the box, into freedom.


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 27
Back in the Ocean, our patient takes a moment to see “which way the wind blows.”


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 40
To sea!


Soon after hitting the water, our youngster swam out from shore, toward the large group. A pair of Murres, an adult and juvenile approximately the same age, swam up to our bird. Immediately they began diving together, one of them surfacing with a fish. And then they melted into the group and “our bird” was ours no more. Now s/he was her own bird, just as s/he always had been.

COMU Release Sept 2014 - 50
Looking of fish


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 67
A colleague!


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 65
An adult in background


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 72
A fish for a youngster?


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 51
Happy wildlife caregivers enjoying the beauty of their work


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 80
An adult Brown Pelican does a flyby


COMU Release Sept 2014 - 78
Sandpipers on the wing across the Jaws


Your help is needed. The specialized care that seabirds require is made possible by your contribution. Please help us help wild wild animals in distress. Give today.

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all photographs: Laura Corsiglia/Bird Ally X

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Bufflehead, one of the smallest ducks, named after the mighty mammal of the Plains!

The teenager who called our clinic late on Monday thought the duck he’d found had a broken wing. We asked where he’d found the bird.

“On a sandbar in the river.”

He said the duck was black and white.

Finding a wild animal out of place – a baby bird on the ground, a bat in a doorway, a hawk by the side of the road – is outside the ordinary. Many people live their lives entirely without this experience.

BUFF Feb 2014 - 03Our clinic had already closed and the young man and the bird were an hour away with no way to get here. We would have to ask a volunteer to drive down to Rio Dell the next morning. We gave him instructions on how to keep the bird safe overnight – to place the bird in a box with a towel at the bottom and a lid that closes, to not give food or water, and to keep the injured and frightened animal away from any people or pets and our noises – an unused room is ideal. A heating pad on low can be placed under half the box so the animal can move toward or away from the heat, whichever is more comfortable.

Of course, over the phone it is impossible to be certain what the real situation is. But it is hunting season and this kid was down by the Eel River. It was perfectly imaginable that a goose or duck had been shot and wounded. We have treated many waterfowl who’d been shot and found, still alive, but flightless, trapped on the ground, helpless. We treat and release geese and ducks with this kind of injury commonly. It’s also true that many patients who’ve been shot do not survive.

BUFF Feb 2014 - 02One of Humboldt Wildlife Care Center’s regular volunteers came in first thing the next morning. He was happy to make the drive.

It takes a little bit of courage to transport injured wild animals. Injuries, especially gunshots, are not that much fun to see. Often we bring patients in who must be humanely euthanized due to the severity of their wounds. It may seem like a simple task – drive there, drive back – no radio or chit chat or smoking when the patient is in the car, but otherwise, simple. In fact it is an act that can change a volunteer’s entire perspective. While navigating the traffic of any town with an injured wild animal in your car you can’t help but begin to see a city through wild eyes.

As it turned out the duck was indeed a black and white duck. She was a Bufflehead – cousin to mergansers, scoters, eiders, goldeneyes, and long-tailed ducks – an awesome little duck who winters all around Humboldt Bay. You will see Bufflehead out in the open water of the bay, in the nooks and crannies of the bay’s shore as well as in the wide parts where rivers cross their flood plains on their way to the bay. Bufflehead are almost everyhere in winter.

This lady duck seemed perfectly healthy. Her exam revealed no significant injuries. Her small feet had a few very small scrapes. She definitely did not have a broken wing.

Often people who rescue birds, especially marine birds, assume a wing injury is the reason that the bird doesn’t fly away. Some animals live so remotely from most human experience that we don’t even recognze them when they come near. Everybody can identify a robin and would know if one is in trouble. In the case of aquatic birds, especially those who spend their entire lives on water, simply being on land is a sign that something could be wrong. Often these birds require an expanse of water to run across, building speed to become airborne. On land, they are grounded.

wwpThe thick coat of feathers seaducks and other primarily aquatic birds wear is what allows them to spend their lives in cold rivers and salt chucks. With no other obvious injury, the next possible problem we look for is with her waterproofing. A duck who gets wet, especially all the way down to her skin, will not be able to stay in water. This leads to death, eventually – water is where the food is.

To test her waterproofing, we have a specially-built warmwater tank (warm water is safer – if she is not waterproof, she won’t get cold). After a period of time we evaluate her feathers to make sure they are keeping her dry.

Each time we checked on her, she was under water swimming in circles looking for a way out. While she was obviously feeling stressed, her constant diving was a good sign.

Soon we moved her to a cold pool. She dove immediately. We rigged a food dish in her pool – fish, mealworms – and gave her a small platform made of netting in case she needed to get out of the water. We planned to leave her in the pool overnight.

BUFF Feb 2014 - 10While the duck swam in the cold pool, the young man who rescued her called. We let him know she was in good condition, no wing injury, no fractures.

“So, you found her at the river?”

“Yeah, she couldn’t fly away.”

“Well, you know ducks like her are mostly on water. They can’t really walk or run on land – they need open water to get back in the air. If you hadn’t rescued her, she would have been really vulnerable to a predator, like a coyote.”

“Yeah,” he said, “there were cats all over there.”

“Well, it’s lucky for her you came along, then.”

BUFF Feb 2014 - 11And it’s true. This Bufflehead was lucky this young man had come along. She’d suffered a common mishap. For whatever reason, sometimes water birds find themselves on land, stranded. Often it’s wet pavement that looks like a body of water. Sometimes rough surf tosses birds to the shore. Occasionally, injuries or contaminants, like oil, force aquatic birds from the water. In her case, we’ll never know. We only had her vibrant and healthy condition to go on.

BUFF Feb 2014 - 43The next morning when we checked her, she was perfectly dry and still diving to get away from us. She was clearly ready to get back home.

The same volunteer who’d gone to Rio Dell to pick her up was available to release her. Considering how many animals he’d brought in who didn’t make it, it was especially nice to ask him if he wanted to ride with her back to the Eel River for her return to her wild and free life.

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Want to help return an animal to the wild? We are now accepting volunteers. And as always, your support makes our work possible. Your contribution goes directly to the rescue and care of injured and orphaned wild animals and to educating toward a responsible and respectful relationship with Mother Earth. Thank you!

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(all photos: Laura Corsiglia/BAX)

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