A Falcon’s Peregrination Through Recovery

Posted on October 22, 2016October 22, 2016 by Monte Merrick

As September drew to a close, on its last Monday, a young Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) was hit by a car on Samoa Boulevard (route 255) near the intersection with V street, just west of Arcata. Samoa is a highway notorious for its danger to our wild neighbors. Every day a casual survey will find the dead body of someone – a raccoon, a gull, a skunk, a coot, or an opossum – and who knows how many small birds are never seen, who’ve been hit and killed and thrown into the vegetation on either side of the road. Samoa Blvd is a ridiculous name for the route – it should be called the Wildlife Watchout.

[We need your help! We are several thousand dollars away from reaching our October goal of $7000! Our work relies completely on your support. If you can, please donate today! Every little bit helps.]

This falcon was spotted, alive, sitting by the side of the road. A kind-hearted man stopped and scooped the world’s fastest animal (242mph in a dive!) and brought him to our Bayside wildlife hospital, Humboldt Wildlife Care Center.

It is thought by some that Peregrine falcons got their name from people who captured them as juveniles who’d wandered from their nest site, since those nests were usually too remote to reach or even find. It’s not very clear if this is the case, and the source material is vague – but if accurate, since the theory alludes to falconry and the practice of stealing wild falcons and keeping them captive, then we have a parallel in our own time and place.

For many of the last several years, a Peregrine falcon pair have nested in high profile location near Eureka. Local birders and ornithologists tried to keep the site a secret to protect the falcon family from falconers who might try to steal a juvenile. As with the centuries old conjectured etymology, it would have been nearly impossible to reach the nest’s location, but as soon as the juveniles fledge (fly from nest for the first time) they would become easy targets. In fact, over the last few years HWCC has often been called in to give one or more of the young falcons a helping hand, since their first flights usually take them into the heart of downtown Eureka.

A juvenile Peregrine Falcon in care at HWCC in 2012. This youngsters only problem was that her (or his) first flight from his nest landed her on Eureka’s waterfront. Too young to know better, she was easily picked up by a well-intended person and brought to us. After a day of observation to insure she was in good health, we returned her to her family.

When we performed this Peregrine falcon’s initial examination, he (presumed male due to smaller stature) was in good health with the exception of a fractured right ulna. As fractures go, this is one of best he could have gotten. Whether bird, human, other mammal, even dinosaur, vertebrates with limbs have ulnas – it’s one of the many clues that we really are all related. The ulna is the thicker of the two bones, the other being the radius, that make up our forearm, extending from elbow to wrist. Since his radius was intact, it formed a natural splint. A couple of weeks spent with his wing immobilized, his ulna had a very good chance of healing – this bird’s prognosis for release was excellent.

Receiving medicine during initial examination.

Keeping a fierce, wild being in a small enclosure for 2 to 3 weeks is risky – especially for the wild being. While his prognosis for recovery was good, in captivity, anything can happen – accidents with the housing, stress-related trauma – nearly every advance in the husbandry of our patients that rehabilitators have made has come at the cost of patient’s life. So with this in mind we provided a perch that would prevent pressure sores on the bottoms of his feet that can develop when a bird is grounded. We housed him in a soft-sided pen to prevent injuries to his unwrapped wing. We kept him isolated from our noise and commotion to reduce the stress of being unable to put the distance between that he would have greatly preferred.

Every so often we checked the fracture site in order to track the healing process. At last, after 18 days, the fracture was stable with a well formed calloused around the break. We removed the wrap and moved the falcon to an outdoor aviary. To our great pleasure, he immediately burst into flight. All that was needed at this point was some time in the aviary for him to regain any lost strength and for us to make observations that let us know he would be fine upon release.

After 25 days in care, the falcon was ready to go.

Trying to evade the net while being captured for his release evaluation.

Thinking outside the box!

A new volunteer on her first release – these moments are the joy of our work.

… back into wild, blue yonder …

While we wish every patient who’d been hit by a car that we treat could have such an awesome outcome, the truth is that it’s rare that anyone survives such an impact. But for wild animals, without someone stopping to get them help, and without people like you who support our work, none who are injured would survive. If not for you, this bird, and every other patient we admit, would have been an uncounted statistic of the damage to nature caused by civilization. Thank you for your support!

Want to contribute? Click here!

All photos: Laura Corsiglia/BAX

Raising Common Murre Chicks in a Changing World

Posted on October 18, 2016December 9, 2016 by Monte Merrick

All along the west coast of North America, on the rocks and cliffs of the crumbling edge, Common Murres (Uria aalge), elegant seabirds with a large local population, gather each Spring to mate and raise their young. Highly dependent on the cold nutrient-rich waters of the California Current, these birds are strictly fish eaters, diving to depths of 180 meters and maybe deeper*, using their wings to “fly” beneath the waves to catch their prey.

Common Murres leave their nest site long before they are fully grown or independent. Jumping from the rocky cliffs, the young seabirds join a parent, almost always their father, at sea to continue feeding, growing and learning. For over 20 million years, Common Murres (also known as Common Guillemots) have lived in this manner, through the ice ages, the warmings, and the shifts in coastline and habitat that have occurred.

[We are in the middle of our October fundraiser and need your help, urgently. We must raise $7000 by the 31st! We are still several thousand dollars away. Please support wildlife rehabilitation and advocacy for the wild on the North Coast and beyond! Click here to donate now.]

Our world is wild. We can’t really say that one part is more or less wild than another, but certainly we can say that the ocean, in the best of times, is a challenging environment. In our current age, the age of human interference with natural cycles so severe that impacts are seen at the planetary scale, the challenges may be insurmountable.

So while it has been normal in each year for Humboldt Wildlife Care Center to admit 30 to 40 Common Murre chicks during the months of July, August and September, due to the a wide assortment of causes, we knew something was amiss when this Summer we admitted only 6 young birds. Just as our typical season of raising orphaned Murre chicks began – late June and early July – it also ended.

A very young Common Murre, on admission day, rests in our incubator, exhausted and nearly starved to death.

After warming up, a full examination is performed. Supplements, such as vitmain B, and anti-parasitical drugs are given.

Each chick is given an identification band so that we can accurately track her or his progress.

Common Murres are colony-nesters and housing them with others helps ease the stress of captive care.

Our patients this year came in very young – each of them was well under 200 grams which is approximately their weight at the time when they usually leave the nest. As you can imagine, a young bird without a parent floating across the coastal waters of the North pacific will be in pretty rough shape by the time she or he is beached. Very thin, dehydrated and close to death, we immediately provide supportive care – fluids and warmth.

It’s a tough thing, having a setback like this at such a young age, and not every orphan will survive. Th early days of care are the worst, and we lost two within their first 24 hours of treatment. In the end, of the 6, we released 3. They spent over two moths with us, first housed indoors under a heat lamp and then moving outdoors to our newly built saltwater pool.

In our newly built seabird pool. Magnetic-drive pumps, unlike most swimming pool pumps, allow us to switch between fresh and saltwater, as the needs of our patients dictates.

Each bird ate nearly 50 night smelt each day. Over the course of two months, that’s a lot of fish!

2016 on our coast was a bad year for Common Murres. There simply hasn’t been enough fish. Lack of fish, leads directly to fewer young seabirds. Common Murres are long lived and can absorb the occasional bad year. If fish populations recover, so will they recover. But current conditions don’t seem to be signs that we are living in a time of recovery.

Agricultural runoff introduces nitrogen in to the sea which increases the frequency of harmful algal blooms. Plastics and other garbage pollutants wreak havoc on the food chain. Overfishing depletes the ocean of the resources which all species depend on to survive and thrive. Rising ocean temperatures as a part of anthropogenic (i.e., human-caused) climate change are destroying the web of life as it has evolved over the vast fabric of time. We have no idea which species will survive, or what the outcome will be for “the wheel’s still in spin.”

Still, for the birds that we admitted, prompt care and proper facilities (provided by your support!) allowed them to recover and be released back to their wild and free lives… which come with no guarantees.

We may not know what our future holds – this has always been true – but we do know that, no matter how much damge there is – no matter the extent of the injuries that we cause – we owe to Mother Earth and all her residents the best possible care for the victims of human industry, human carelessness and human indifference. We do what we can with what we have and without you, we’d have nothing.

Volunteer staff takes our three Common Murre patients to the bay for release.

As birds who spend nearly their entire lives on water, they don’t walk very well. We place them directly in the bay.

We do what we can. Yes it feels good to help. It’s one of the ways that we know that helping is the right thing to do.

Paddling out to deeper waters to join others out beyond the old formation. From 150 gram babies to nearly grown adults over 900 grams, this is the second chance that you provided with your support.

Your support means the difference between these birds dying on a beach and getting a second chance. Please help. We need to raise $7000 before the end of October. Help us help our wild neighbors. Click here to Donate Now. Thank you!

All photos: Laura Corsiglia/ Bird Ally X

*Diving Depths of Four Alcids (1984)Piatt, John F.; Nettleship, David N.

Orphaned Raccoons Re-Enter the Real.

Posted on October 9, 2016October 9, 2016 by Monte Merrick

From admission as small 160 gram babies with their eyes still closed, to fierce and hefty predators weighing in at over 3 kilograms (metric converter) is a long process. The orphaned raccoons that we admit at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center are in care for four months or longer, while they develop, grow, and learn the skills they’ll need for their wild and free lives

As the Fall season swings into high gear, we’ve begun the process of weekly checks to determine who might be ready for release. Last week we did our first round. (Be sure to check out the photos and scroll to the end for video!)

[check out this story from last year’s raccoon release – awesome video of a young female catching a fish her fist time in the river!]

Orphaned raccoons in care learn that fish is found in the water, that bugs are found in the dirt, that fruit is found in trees, and that eggs are found in nests – all things they would have learned from their mother.

Next comes the real river!

It’s healthy to approach new things with caution! A young raccoon takes her time leaving the crate. The wild is much bigger than any of us dream.

The gravel floor of our raccoon housing is made of river bed, just like this river’s bed. Everything is made of the wild.

[We have plenty of expenses from our busy summer season still to be paid. Please help! We need to raise $7000 this month to stay in the black. Your love for the wild and your generous support makes our work possible. Click here to donate now.]

After exploring independently, these two meet up in the river to compare notes.

Off they go, into their real destiny.

Here is a five minute video of the release:

There is a kind of intelligence that can be easily found in our universe. A striped tail intelligence, curious, adventurous, playful – an intelligence that connects rivers with constellations and finds morsels under any leaf – a furred, masked, happy intelligence that knows what to do with a mushroom or an egg – a four-handed intelligence that sings water’s praises and wants nothing but freedom and a safe place to nurse her young. Any Raccoon is the living embodiment of this intelligence a generous and congenial way to navigate all that the real offers. When we consider all points of view, all perspectives, when we make decisions, when we plan our lives, we are foolish to ignore this wisdom. We are lucky to share this world with an intelligence like Raccoon.

Your support makes our work possible. Please help. Donate what you can, every little bit helps.

All photos: BAX/Laura Corsiglia – video: Lucinda Adamson/BAX

Bald Eagle, Lead Poisoning, and the legacy of Industrial Civilization.

Posted on October 2, 2016October 18, 2016 by Monte Merrick

On a late Friday afternoon at the end of March, our wildlife clinic in Bayside, Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, got a call about a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Some folks who live in a remote part of Humboldt, near the Lost Coast, had seen him (since he was on on the small side for an adult eagle we presumed male) sitting all day on a river bar. Their dog had even approached and the typically fierce bird was only able to fly to a low nearby perch. They called in their dog, and then they called us.

The next morning staff made the trip to the site on the Bear River. The eagle was still there.

[Your support makes our work possible! Help us meet our October goal of $7000. Click here to make a contribution today!]

After a relatively easy capture and the long drive back, upon examination we realized that we had a very sick bird in our care. Lethargic, now unable to stand, and very weak, we initially suspected an all-too-common killer of raptors across the state: rodenticide.

Transporting back to our clinic, even in poor health the eagle is a wary observer.

It’s not a bad guess. According to a study conducted by colleagues in Marin County at WildCare, well over 70% of the wildlife from across the San Francisco Bay Area tests positive for exposure to anti-coagulant rodenticides. Although some sales of over-the-counter rodenticide were banned recently, these poisons still make it into the wild and their legacy will be with us for a long time.

Although this eagle has likely been exposed to rodenticide, that wasn’t his problem. After a few days in care, we observed that his feces was a dark, fluorescent green. This nearly always indicates another toxin that is also a major threat to wild animals: lead poisoning. In 2006, over 50% of the sick eagles brought in to care in Iowa suffered from lead poisoning.¹

A sick patient needs nutrition. We make sure they get it.

A trip to the veterinarian for radiographs and blood tests confirmed our suspicions. A pellet lodge in his throat and high levels of lead in his blood. We immediately started the eagle on medication that binds with the toxic metal and removes it from the blood stream. We believe that the pellet was ingested rather than the result of being shot, since it was passed after a short time.

A hunter using lead ammunition shoots an animal, who evades capture, carrying the lead ammo in her body, and dies elsewhere, only to be found by a scavenger, such as an eagle. When a scavenger eats the dead body the toxin kills another, unless someone intervenes.

Lead-based ammunition has been banned in the US for hunting waterfowl (ducks, geese, etc) since 1991.² California recently began to phase out all lead ammunition because of its role in secondary wildlife deaths, but a complete ban does not go into effect until 2019.

These feet are formidable! We take precautions with all patients, no matter how sick.

Our patient is at his worst. Fortunately he began to recover within a few days after getting the right medication.

Our patient was very ill. For the first few days of treatment we were unsure if he would survive one day to the next. On top of his lead poisoning, the eagle suffered an upper respiratory infection. We gave him antibiotics along with his other medicine. We provided warmth. We provided safety. The eagle provided the will to live and the strength to endure. After five days in care he began to eat.

Often, although not always, the mark of a corner turned is the return of an appetite. His prognosis went from ‘guarded’ to ‘cautiously optimistic’.

After a few weeks, each course of medicine completed, we entered the long phase of recovery. Emaciated on admission, his weight had been rising slowly and steadily. Still very thin, and still relatively weak, we were able to move the eagle to outdoor housing, where he could perch, eat and begin to recover his strength in much greater privacy. Stress is a serious health risk to all patients, but especially for wild ones, who not only must contend with captivity but also the daily presence of caregivers who they regard as threats to their very lives.

A mighty eagle reduced to hiding in the aviary’s bushes might seem sad, but to staff, this is a photo of sure recovery.

Slow progress is still progress. It’s an important part of rehabilitation. We watch closely, from afar. Any sign of imporvement is noted. Stasis, or worse, decline, is also noted. If the patient is improving, we proceed. If not, we consider changines to the treatment plan. If we have a songbird who’d been hit by a car that can’t stand or move her legs? well, if each day she exhibits signs of sensation returning, we are given hope that recovery is possible. It seems obvious, but it’s not. We train to make observations. We learn a language of care that allows us to note small, incremental improvements precisely. Exactitude in our work saves lives.

Our patient had been in care for over two months before he was able to mount this perch!

Slowly, our eagle patient became more alert. Small things let us know that a full recovery was likely, like following our movement when we brought food into his aviary, or the vigor with which he stepped up to his perch. In time we added higher perching, so that he’d have to jump. And then higher still, so that he’d have to fly. And we fed him everyday. For six months his slow gains mounted until at last, he was recovered. His respiratory infection had cleared. He was flying with strength across his his housing. His blood work was excellent. Six months nearly to the day from his rescue, we took him back to a ridge above the river where he’d been found, near death.

This eagle got lucky. It’s no accident that he was injured. Industrial society has set traps as insidious as lead ammunition for a couple hundred years, at least. People need nature to live, yet our industries find Mother Earth and all her children to be either a source of capital, or an obstacle. Think of how coal mining jargon refers to the tops of mountains, the forests, the wild neighbors who call them home, as “overburden.” And even should we stop the machineries of death, the legacy of industry will linger in our environment, our home, for centuries to come – killing, injuring, displacing.

No, his poisoning was no accident – the accident, the twist of fate, is that he was found by caring, compassionate people who took steps to see that he got the treatment he deserved. And hopefully, we and our children and our grandchildren will always be there, ready to help those who we and our ancestors have harmed with our short-sighted schemes that have left perennial threats.

Every patient we admit is treated with dignity, no matter the species, no matter the injury. Every patient whose care we commit to is given the best we can give – whether a Bald Eagle or a Pacific Wren – a Mallard or a Gray Fox. And the care we are able to provide is directly the result of the support that you provide. Thank you for making it possible for us to help this Bald Eagle, and all of our patients, recover from the injuries our industrial society cause, and get the second chance that they deserve.

His ability to burst into flight like this took months to recover: this was a happy day!

The following photos are the sequence of his release!
Staff rehabilitator, Lucinda Adamson opens the carrier.

Released back to his home! A powerful bird, restored. At the bottom of this valley is the river where he was found.

Your support makes our work possible. We operate on the slimmest of margins, in a constant struggle to provide quality care. Want to help? Please donate today! Thank you!

All photos Bird Ally X/ Laura Corsiglia

Bird Ally X Celebrates Seventh Anniversary!

Posted on October 1, 2016October 2, 2016 by Monte Merrick

Seven years ago, six wildlife rehabilitators*, friends and colleagues, began meeting to develop a workshop on aquatic bird care geared toward other rehabilitators. Each had worked extensively with aquatic birds, including providing care for large numbers at once during catastrophic events such as oil spills, harmful algal blooms, and disease outbreaks, such as avian botulism, that can be driven by environmental conditions like drought.

As one of the six, I can tell you that our primary motivation was to help make certain that hard-won knowledge didn’t end with specialization – that life-saving knowledge spread through our profession.

Across our state, our region, our continent and the world, wildlife rehabilitators work, often alone, with whatever species winds up on their doorstep. Knowledge of aquatic bird care at that time was mostly centralized, in the hands of experts – experts who had learned at the cost of many lost wild lives, experts who had access to money provided by oil companies legally bound to pay for damages (wildlife casualties) they’d caused.

We knew first-hand that many rehabilitators didn’t have the experience or the education to provide quality care for aquatic birds. Often rehabilitators sought help, advice and instruction – mostly they were encouraged to transfer their patients to expert with the knowledge, and even more importantly, the facilities to treat these patients with such unique needs.

It wasn’t long before we realized that our goal was much larger than a workshop could accomplish. Even seven years ago, it was easy to see that our future was quite rocky. Climate disruption, conflict with the oil empire, rising disparity in wealth – our world was clearly in turmoil.

It seems easy to imagine that funding for aquatic bird rehabilitation might evaporate, especially as coastal cities would be forced to divert resources toward infrastructure to cope with rising seas, as well as other consequences of our industrial age. In short, if whole oceans are dying, who will pay for the rehabilitation of marine animals such as Common Murres or Brown Pelicans.

On September 22, 2009, Bird Ally X was conceived in turmoil and hatched as a remedy.

Bird Ally X delivered our first workshop in 2010, An Introduction to Aquatic Bird Rehabilitation. Initially, workshop attendees were given a 50-page booklet as part of the course. By 2012, that booklet had been expanded to become our currently available book also titled, An Introduction to Aquatic Bird Rehabilitation. We’ve now delivered the workshop to hundred of rehabilitators around the country. Over the last seven years we’ve produced additional classes and workshops on different components of aquatic bird care, as well as focusing on different species of aquatic birds and their particular needs in care. We’ve developed workshops on the ethics of wildlife rehabilitation, on housing for wild patients, as well as being effective at helping people over the phone resolve perceived conflicts with their wild neighbors peacefully. We’ve produced materials for co-existing with aquatic birds and other wildlife for Federal and State agencies as well as our general community.

Many of our co-founders have served and still do as volunteer board members for state and national professional rehabilitation associations. Being able to work with our colleagues around the state and country to improve wildlife care as well as provide information that rehabilitators need and seek is an important part of our mission.

During this time, we have continued in our daily work of wildlife rehabilitation, either as staff at other organizations, on emergency response efforts around the continent, as well as producing educational and advocacy materials for collaborative efforts with other organizations and government agencies.

In 2014, Bird Ally X launched an online petition aimed at the United States Department of Agriculture’s highly controversial Wildlife Services, a shadowy, unaccountable program that is a sort of secret police against wild animals. The petition received over 175,000 signatures!

However five years ago we added to our mission in a significant way.

In 2011, with 3 of 6 co-founders living in Humboldt County, we were tipped off that young Brown Pelicans were sighted, contaminated, soaking wet and struggling at the public boat launch in Crescent City, about 90 miles north of Humboldt Bay. we investigated and discovered that not only were there young Pelicans in trouble in Crescent city, but all along the North Cast from Shelter Cove into Oregon. Since it was late in the fishing season, the problem soon ended for the year, but not before we’d rescued, cleaned and rehabilitated over 50 Pelicans who’d been contaminated by fish waste.

Fish waste going directly into the ocean at the public boat launch in Shelter Cove, California. Brown Pelicans and other birds were contaminated directly by this unorthodox waste disposal.

In order to meet that challenge, Bird Ally X partnered with the local wildlife care center, who we’d been assisting in small ways for years. With the facility they had in Bayside, we built the necessary infrastructure to take care of aquatic birds in Humboldt County – allowing for the first time in HWCC history for injured aquatic birds to remain in the region to receive care! That partnership led to BAX assuming HWCC as part of our organization, as of 2013. Now HWCC is the largest single aspect of our efforts. We treat over 1200 wild patients each year, and work every day of the year to provide humane conflict resolution for thousands of other neighbors human and wild.

Now, after seven years, we are still seeking new avenues to reach our colleagues and our community to improve the lives and care for injured and orphaned wild animals, to partner with other organizations so that we can prevent injuries in the first place (an ounce of prevention!!). Our work is far from complete. With the addition of HWCC to our organization we have a working lab for developing affordable and achievable techniques and solutions to the problems of shoestring-budget wildlife rehabilitation. We have an internship program that allows us to train the next generation of wildlife rehabilitators.

We have an education program that brings a message of humane co-existence to classrooms and organizations across our diverse community.

And most importantly, we have the capacity to provide care and save wild lives. As we continue to grapple with the dictates of our work and strategize the future of our efforts, I’d like to close this retrospective with the most important part of the last seven years – the support we’ve received and the wild neighbors we’ve helped!

Want to help? Great! We need your support! Click here to Donate Now!

*the six are – Shannon Riggs, DVM; January Bill; Vann Masvidal; Marie Travers; Laura Corsiglia; Monte Merrick

All images belong to Bird Ally X, thanks!

Much maligned, but so refined, an elegant Skunk is released.

Posted on September 18, 2016September 18, 2016 by Monte Merrick

Nearly three weeks ago we admitted a patient for care, a juvenile, very thin, suffering from parasites, and barely able to stand. At this time of year, struggling young wild mammals are a relatively common patient for us. Youngsters run into trouble, on their own, and once weakened, succumb to all sorts of perils. Internal parasites, dogs and cats are life threatening to a youngster, and if you happen to be one of the most unloved and misunderstood animals who commonly live near the world of industrial civilization, people can be the biggest threat you’ll face – which is why this young Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis) was very lucky that he stumbled into the backyard of someone who took pity on him instead of freaking out.

Freaking out when seeing a skunk is pretty common. Of course, skunks are relatively harmless. While they may suffer from rabies, though it’s not common, their only real threat is their ability to leave a lingering pungent aroma that most of Mother Earth’s children find unpleasant. Consider that the next time you pass the lingering odor of skunk dead on the side of the highway who’s only crime was trying cross the road, and who’s only defense against a thundering automobile was his unique musky spray.

Those who keep chickens, of course, need to provide their animals with a safe enclosure that keeps out all predators, if they wish them to not be eaten. Most wild animals are drawn to human households by food, water or, in the right season, an attractive den site. It is as much our responsibility to keep our wild neighbors safe from conflict with us as it is to keep our livestock, pets and property safe from damage caused by nature that is only doing what needs to be done for survival.

This young skunk needed only anti-parasitical medicine and safe place to eat a natural diet and regain his body mass. After a few days he was stable enough to be housed outdoors. After a few weeks, he was fit and ready to return to his free and wild life. We released him into the same area he was found. As you can see in the following phone pics, he made short work of dashing for cover…

And then he was gone….

Your support makes our work providing care for our wild neighbors who’ve become orphaned or injured due to our built world possible! Without you, neither this skunk, nor the other 15 skunks we’ve treated in 2016, nor the other 900 wild animals, as well as the thousands of wild animals we’ve helped by counseling people in the middle of a conflict with the principles of humane co-existence with the wild animals and Mother Earth, would have gotten the help they needed and deserved. Thank YOU!!!

We are still $5000 dollars away from our critical goal of $7000 raised for the month of September. You can help us reach it by donating today!

Sustaining Members Sustain Us!

Posted on September 16, 2016September 17, 2016 by Monte Merrick

Some seasons are busier than others. Spring and Summer are filled with orphaned wild babies, displaced nests, denning mothers and an endless string of conflicts to resolve that arise when Mother Earth needs to grow, renew, give birth, regenerate in the midst of industrial society’s desire to confine, contain, and contract the natural world. In Fall and Winter we admit wintering seabirds who struggle in occasional storms on our coast where dwindling fish make resources more scarce. We treat far more injured adult wild animals, many hit by cars as the shortening day brings rush hour traffic into the nighttime world. In large measure, Fall and Winter is our time to repair and improve to our facility, Humboldt Wildlife Care Center. But no matter the season, we are here each day, and each day is filled with many of the same tasks.

Every morning we have a blinking phone to greet us: messages from overnight and the early hours of the day: a sparrow caught by a cat, a skunk getting into trash and spraying the caller’s dog, some kind of bird stranded on the beach, another person saw a bear in an orchard and wonders if he should call a trapper. And we have our patients who need breakfast, morning medicines, their hospital housing cleaned. Pools need daily maintenance. Laundry. Dishes. And more cleaning.

It takes a lot to provide direct care for over 1200 wild patients each year. It takes a lot to help thousands of people each year chose to resolve a conflict with a wild animal peacefully, without bloodshed.

And frankly, we do this in a world that, as you may have already noticed, races forward in the destruction of the wild. So we also have to work at slowing them down. That’s why we help educate our children, our community, our community leaders on how to co-exist with the wild. Our Wildlife Ambassador team makes hundreds of visits each year to schools, clubs and community centers each year to help teach the importance of our wild neighbors and how we all can help make the world safer for all wild animals. We have to follow the killing of wolves. We have to help ban the trapping of Bobcat. We have to work to ensure that our state protects endangered species, such as the Tri-colored Blackbird, or the Spotted Owl.

It takes a lot to keep our work going.

That’s why we are seeking Sustaining Members. Sustaining members are exactly like anyone who supports our work financially. Except you help us every month. Our Sustaining Members, some give $5 a month, others give $250, form the core of our contributors. Your donation each month not only provides money to accomplish our mission, your contribution also shows your commitment to our success, and the success of our wild neighbors. Seeing your name pop up every month is an invaluable encouragement! And your contribution really adds up! For our regular membership (thank you, everyone who has ever donated!) we ask $25 per year. If you signed up for $5 a month, that’s $60 a year! Because we operate on a shoestring, we know how much difference that $35 difference makes!

$60 feeds the orphaned fawns in our care for five days! Your $5 each month will keep our lifesaving phone service on for one month every year! If you become a Sustaining Member who gives $10 each month you will provide 100 pounds of fish! 100 pounds will feed a recovering Brown Pelican for 20 days. $20 each month will cover the gasoline for 12 trips to Crescent City or Laytonville or Weaverville to transport an orphaned or injured wild animal. Want to bowl us over? A monthly gift of $1000 will cover the cost of our tenancy at Jacoby Creek Land Trust!

What will you receive in return? Well, the most important thing that you receive is the satisfaction of playing a critical role in our lifesaving work. In addition, we do currently have canvas tote bags that were embroidered with the Bird Ally X logo by Betty Travers, our treasurer and co-founder, Marie Travers’ mom. We can send one out to the first ten Sustaining Members who request one at the time of donation. Also, Sustaining Members will receive a special email update on one patient each month with a photo of the patient during the course of treatment or at release.

[So, how do you sign up? Easy! Just click on our Donate Now link and when you make your contribution, check the box that says to make it monthly!]

We often ask for your support. Without it we can’t exist. And we often say that all donations are important no matter the size. Well, it’s true. Think of every bird you’ve ever seen. Without receiving a small bit of sustenance on a very regular basis, that Sparrow or Thrush, Eagle or Crow would have never flown.

Thank you for keeping us in the air.

Big Release Day!

Posted on September 3, 2016September 3, 2016 by Monte Merrick

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!!

Last chance to help pay our August bills

Posted on August 31, 2016August 31, 2016 by Monte Merrick

Right now we are $1800 short of our August expenses. We need to raise $7000 dollars this month. Reaching this goal is critical to the success of our mission. Can you help? $1800 will cover our rent and water bill, our electric bill and our part of our fish bill. Long term, of course we’ll need more, but right now, $1800 will go a long way toward keeping our mission on track! Help us continue to provide care and advocacy for our wild neighbors on the Redwood Coast! Please help, you’re all we’ve got! Thank you!!!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW! THANKS

Letting Nature Take ‘Its’ Course.

Posted on August 29, 2016September 20, 2016 by Monte Merrick

It’s a common expression: let nature takes its course – and we learn it while we ‘re young. It can be used in many ways, but in the end, what it always means is that the best outcome can be achieved by doing nothing – that left alone, the inevitable outcome is the preferred outcome.

As wildlife rehabilitators, we hear this expression every day.

Two months ago, a man called from somewhere out Highway 36 – he’d found a fawn by the side of the road with a dead doe, presumably the fawn’s mother, most likely hit by a vehicle. The caller had already talked to a local government agent to find help. “The ranger said it would be better to let nature take it’s course,” he said, “but I couldn’t just leave the little guy there. Will you take him?”

Of course we would. And we did.

The fawn is doing well, is now being weaned from a bottle to foraging for greens, in the company of other fawns, untamed. If all continues to go well, he will soon be released back into a wild herd.

Two weeks ago we released an Osprey who’d been hit by a vehicle and picked up from the shoulder of a two-lane blacktop that skirts the western edge of Lassen National Park. The woman who found the bird talked to an employee at a park information booth who told her the best thing she could do was put the grounded bird back and, yes, let nature take its course. She said she couldn’t do that, so the employee found her a box and gave her a phone number for a veterinarian in Redding. When she got to Redding, the veterinary clinic wasn’t open (nor were they permitted to treat wildlife).

So she found us on the internet. Since she was already headed to the coast she was able to bring the Osprey to our clinic. It took all day, but eventually we had the bird in care. While in relatively good shape with no external injuries, the Osprey was slow to respond, seeming dazed. Within a couple days, however, in the safety of our clinic, the plunge-diving raptor regained his wits and was flying well and in a very dissatisfied mood.

As soon as he was ready, our staff took him on the 5 hour drive back to Lassen, back to his lake next to the volcano. He needed nothing more than some time in care – a safe haven where food and safety are provided.

If you put the Osprey back on the side of the road and “let nature take its course” – disoriented and grounded by his collision with a vehicle – it’s predictable that the Osprey will die. With no treatment, who knows how long it will take for him to recover his wits, if ever – and with no food or water, his slow decline gathers momentum until he’s too weak to seek shelter, let alone regain his ability to meet his own needs. Another car, another predator, or a slow death by dehydration is as certain as night follows day.

If you provide care – hydration, food, anti-inflammatory medicine, a safe aviary, reduced stress – and let Nature take her course – the bird stands a very good chance of healing and getting a second chance.

Do all of the animals who we treat recover? Of course not. Many animals do not respond to treatment – the antibiotics are too late to prevent the death of a Barn Swallow bitten by a house cat, the neurological trauma that leaves the Raven with paralyzed legs doesn’t resolve. More often, the patient’s injuries are simply too severe. The only course we can take is to humanely end the suffering. Any hunter can tell you that you don’t let an animal wander off to a slow death from the wounds that you’ve caused. You don’t gut-shoot a deer and then “let nature take its course.” Wild animals who’ve been injured by the human-built world at least have the right to a humane death.

The person in uniform, or the biologist, or the front desk clerk, who recommends letting nature take its course may not be able to diagnose the injury, may not be aware that treatment is available, may not be informed at all on this topic. Often the person functioning as the authority is merely parroting a worn phrase we all know so well.

‘Let nature take its course’ is not a fact-based recommendation, it is not science based. Now of course there are many ways to use this phrase in many situations, but to be clear, when we’re talking about injured and orphaned wild animals, letting nature take its course means not taking responsibility for the injury and suffering our society has caused. It is irresponsible even though it parades as the dispassionate, wider-scoped perspective, not the uneducated sentimental feelings of compassion. And in this way, Nature is made out to be the culprit – Nature is cruel, and the compassionate person is a fool. A logging truck full of trees hits a deer and kills her, leaving her young stranded – too small to survive. The local ranger says the fawn should be left alone, that we should let nature take its course, and it is Nature who is cruel.

Meanwhile, who destroys Nature foolishly? Is it the person who blunders in picking up a fledgling sparrow thinking that the bird was in trouble and not simply in an awkward phase of learning to fly? Or a bison calf? Or, is it the builders of pipelines, the levelers of forests, the polluters of the sea? Why is it only fitting for nature to take its course when an individual is suffering an injury caused by industrial society?

And there is this: the heavy line drawn between the human and the natural, between society and the wild is religious, not scientific. It is a belief, not a finding. Who among us has the hubris to say where that line runs, or if it exists at all.

In the end, ‘letting nature take its course’ is a fallacy, an error, a hypocrisy, a lie.

Right now, in Washington state, wolves are slated to be slaughtered for having killed cattle that were put out to graze at the wolves’ den site on public lands. No cries from the biologists, the wardens, or the clerks now to let nature take its course – no cries at all.

We are in the last days of our August fundraiser and we have not yet reached our necessary goal of $7000. We have nearly $2000 to go!! Click here to help us pay our bills and continue to provide our region with its only native wildlife hospital. Without your help, we wouldn’t be here! Thank you!