Monday morning as staff rolled into the clinic to open for the day, a white pickup truck from the Humboldt Waste Management Authority was parked in our lot. Sure enough a few minutes later, an employee from the Eureka facility came though our door. She had a bat in a small cardboard box.
She said that someone had dropped off a bucket of used motor-oil soaked rags along with other hazardous waste from somewhere up in the hills east of the Bay. In that bucket there was also a Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus).
At first glance, the bat did not look good. He was completely covered in motor oil. We could barely detect his small, shallow breaths. We immediately placed him in our incubator, small box and all. Our incubator is kept ready 24/7 for exactly this reason. This patient needed heat and he needed it now, not when the thing was warmed up in a minute or five.
Soon he’d regained his composure, crawled from the box and was investigating the incubator. He was also trying to groom the oil from his fur with his tongue.
After he was sufficiently warmed and alert enough to be handled with less risk to his health, we prepared a quick bath for him to remove as much of the viscous motor oil as we could, before he licked more of it. Oil is bad for fur, bad for skin, and poison to eat.
During his post-bath examination he briefly escaped from our grasp and flew around the small examination room! This bat was ready to get it done.
He still had a bit of oil in his head, so a quick second bath was necessary. (photo at top of page is from his second bath)
The care board with the Big Brown Bat’s post-bath instructions.
After two days of rest, mealworms and regularly being misted to check his fur for cleanliness and function, that is, that he be clean of all oil and able to handle the actual world of rain and cold, we determined that he was ready for release.
This bat hated being misted. He hissed with rage!
A little damp but looking good!
While in care we tested the bat for parasites. He was negative – a perfectly healthy bat in a very bad situation!
Every month we need to reach a goal to keep our facility open and functioning. We need to raise $7000 this month, March, to meet our mission. Can you help? Please Donate Now Thank you!
Prepared for travel to his release site.
We released him with ample time before sundown and provided a ready-made hiding place so that he was safe until he had his bearings.
We only had a rough approximation of where he was from initially. We took him back to the area where the bucket had come from, hoping we were relatively close. This is not ideal, but without a more precise location, it was the best we could do. What we do know is that he came very close to meeting his fate in the bottom of one of the most stupid and ordinary things in the world – a barrel of society’s petroleum waste.
Thanks to you this bat had a place to go when in a bad situation. Imagine the initial surprise the people at Humboldt Waste Management Authority felt when first discovering him in the bucket of oily rags. If not for you, they would have had no recourse. Everyday, your support makes that difference. Thank you!
all photos: Bird Ally X
He flies very well!
Our aviary isn’t big enough for this Owl.
If he passes his release evaluation, this is the last time he’ll have to encounter the dreaded net.
Checking the progress of his wounded eye.
On the way to the release site…
Patient flying away – the best sight…
Thinking outside the box, outside the box, must get outside the box!
Healthy and ready to rock!
One more step!
And up and away!
Upper left corner is where you’ll find him…
Circling back and then gone… free again!
Discussing our Duckling Pond, used for orphaned Mallards (
Learning how to keep water flowing through our aviary suitable for ducks, geese, 
For the untrained eye, rocks and water, for the trained volunteer, each component here is critical to providing good housing for certain species of aquatic birds.
Complex patients require complex solutions. Safely operating an aquatic environment requires skill and knowledge.
Part of operating pools correctly means controlling waste water responsibly! The frog pond that neighbors our facility doesn’t want pool chemistry dumped in it. You can’t be an ally of wild animals without being an ally of habitat.
Pools for Pelicans, Cormorants and Gulls have their own requirements. Here we take a look at how water is recycled for this pool.
A well functioning “bio-filter”…
Keeping the pools clean does require some skills! But we all get the hang of it eventually. Practice makes perfect!
Each pool has its quirks. Here we discuss a small pool and how its principles can be scaled to accommodate different volumes and species.
Wrapping up and answering questions… all in all, a very successful workshop!
Into the wild, a place she had never really left…
Apparently other raccoons like this river too… a few footprints of her colleagues were seen at the scene.
The Western Screech-owl is returned to a site very close to where he was found.
A last fleeting glimpse before he’s gone back into the wild night.
Each year Leslie helps us put this show on, and we are very grateful for her generosity and general just being a fantastic person!
We had a terrific show, opened by past BAX intern and current biologist working on watershed restoration, Lauryl McFarland, who performed a delightful and poignant song accompanying herself on ukele.
EPIC forest advocate, Rob DiPerna performed a few songs! Rob has a fantastic voice and a real love for music’s capacity to engage the issues of our times! Rob has performed at our show 3 years in a row now! Thank you Rob! 
Aerial Dancer Jessica Rubin takes to the skies!
Leslie Castellano in flight!
The Neighbors – King Crimson and Jonathan Richman blast into a furious exploration of Thelonious Monk’s approach to composition. (not kidding! wow!)
Flying above us all – our mission.
Humboldt Bay is a refuge in a changing world. Preserving wild habitat will only become more urgent.
A last long look… for more information on opportunities to see Brant locally, visit the 
