Merry Maloney, NorthCoast Wildlife Superstar!

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Monte Merrick

by January Bill, Bird Ally X co-founder

I was watching a Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a snag outside my window the other day. My 4 year old son pointed him out to me, commenting on how he blended in with the plants. I immediately started thinking of a friend and well-known community member, Merry Maloney. In truth, I think of Merry every time I see a raptor in the sky or when we are rehabilitating one at the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center because when I first met Merry her passion for wildlife drew me to her. I was lucky to have worked with her almost daily for years doing wildlife rehabilitation in Humboldt. Her knowledge, inspiration, and humor helped keep me on my path to a life devoted to a career in wildlife rehabilitation.

You may know her, she is an exceptional person all around and is active throughout our community, but I would like to share with you the world that I know her from, and that is wildlife rehabilitation. Once she retired as a school nurse in her first profession, she began her second career as a volunteer with the HWCC in 1999 as the Education Team Leader and Raptor Rehabilitator. She opened up her and her partner Barb’s (who has supported her every step of the way) home for housing HWCC’s educational wildlife ambassadors. This was an extremely selfless act and was also a huge personal and financial commitment. Most of the wildlife ambassadors continue to live and be cared for on their property.

Merry attended international conferences and networked with national raptor rehabilitation organizations to ensure stellar care was given to the local injured and orphaned raptors in her charge, giving hundreds of individuals, from Bald Eagles to baby Quail, a second chance at a wild and free life.

She developed and presented over 1,000 educational presentations to schools (preschoolers to grad students) and many community organizations, never turning down an educational outreach opportunity. Recently Merry had to retire from the work to which she had devoted her life because of her health. Yet her devotion to wildlife, to the environment, to children and wildlife education continues on through the work of BAX/HWCC’s staff, volunteers and interns, and all who have been inspired by her to be wildlife stewards of our shared world.

Merry Maloney is a true wildlife advocate and hero in our community. For all of her contributions to the HWCC and our community, we honor her by naming our recently-built raptor conditioning aviary the Merry Maloney Raptor Flight House.

Merry, thank you for doing this life saving work. Thank you with all of our hearts for everything you have done to make this world brighter for both the people and wildlife. We love you.

Merry with Carson, an unreleasable Peregrine Falcon, named for Rachel Carson. (photo: John Griffith)

Northern Fulmars, seabirds of mystery

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Monte Merrick

from the Bridge of a crabbing Ship
in the middle of the night on the southern Bering sea –
Wakened by the Rolling Sea.

it is december and in a locker on board
hang orange suits Meant to
Protect human Life
should the Vessel go Down.

otherwise, says the pilot
we have five minutes at Most
before we Succumb to the Cold
and we Drown –

the Bow points to the Sky,
then down into the Trough
the lights cast a wide arc and we see
peppering the Crests,
Heads Tucked, at rest
northern Fulmars,
common Murres, asleep.

Northern Fulmars (Fulmaris glacialis) are mysterious birds. Their pelagic lives rarely intersect our land-locked habits. When they do come ashore, to rear their young, they choose remote sea cliffs at the edge of ice-covered oceans. At sea, because they follow the fishing industry’s floating slaughter-houses, perhaps those who know them best are whalers and commercial fishers.

Infrequent visitors to land, they are less commonly admitted for care than other seabirds who stay close to the coasts. As with all tasks, increased exposure improves our skills. So for many years, Northern Fulmars were regarded as a difficult species to treat, and many of these birds died while in our care.

When caring for a wild animal, besides treatment for whatever the injury or condition, the primary care given is husbandry, which amounts mostly to diet and housing. When we tried to find how to provide better care for fulmars, these are the areas we had to study.

Early in treatment, in a small tepid salt pool. The environment is meant to be stress-free.

Northern Fulmars eat anything – aquatic invertebrates like krill, small fish, squid. And they live on the open ocean. While their habitat is impossible to recreate, it still is relatively simple. Open sea.

In late fall of 2003, there was a Northern Fulmar wreck (a seabird wreck is an unusual mortality event involving large numbers of the same or mixed species – while these have occurred throughout time, warmer oceans, acidified oceans, and nitrified oceans are playing an increasing role) in which hundreds of these birds were beached from Baja to British Columbia… sadly very few birds were released. Most facilities did not have proper pools and lacked experience. Along the coast, most birds died.

Evaluating feather condition and ablity to stay dry in water, or waterproofing…

At the facility where I was the care manager, we realized that our diet, established to provide high calories without fat, so that oils wouldn’t contaminate the pool, was not merely not helping, but was actively harming the birds, who were dying, several a day. We switched to a fish-based diet, and immediately, birds began to respond. We managed to release 7 of the 75 in our care. While we were encouraged by our improvement, still this was a dismal result.

Regular examinations and blood tests allow us to track the patient’s progress.

In 2007, along the coast of Monterey Bay, another Fulmar wreck occurred – much smaller in scope, only birds in the bay were affected, not the whole coast. Still we had 140 birds in care! We were seeing similar results, roughly 10% of the birds were looking good, appearing to be headed for release.

By coincidence, the facility we were using had seawater pools that were available for Sea Otters. Because of the large numbers of birds in care, we had to use these pools as well. Imagine our shock when nearly all the birds on seawater suddenly became voracious eaters, vocalizing and highly active. While we had no physiological reason for these birds not thriving on freshwater (many other seabirds do fine on freshwater while in care) our eyes told us all we really needed to know. Northern Fulmars require salt water.

As their health improves, a larger salt pool and far less handling are required for continued recovery.

So last month, when we got four fulmars in from local beaches in Humboldt County, the first thing we did was salt our pools. In fact, our pools are built with pumps that allow us to switch back and forth between salt and fresh water for just this reason. We use salt for all pelagic birds now – while it is more expensive to add salt to a pool, certainly, but salt, especially for Northern Fulmars, is the difference between life and death.

Your generosity supports innovations like these. Without you we would not be able to provide the best care we can, and “push the envelope” to improve, to learn, and to be able to save more wild lives. Thank you so much for making our work possible. Scroll through the following pictures of our Northern Fulmars recently in care… and when you feel good about their release, please, feel free to feel good about yourselves for helping to make it happen.

Release!

Rehabilitator Lucinda Adamson (left) and wildlife student/volunteer Lisa Falcao watch their patients fly away.

All Photos: Laura Corsiglia/Bird Ally X

Ban Wildlife Killing Contests.

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Monte Merrick

After 9 months of deliberation, on December 3 in Van Nuys, the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) will decide on new regulations banning killing contests. If adopted, these regulations will apply to nongame animals and furbearing animals. Coyotes will be covered under these rules. Your voice is needed.

Below is our letter to the FGC on behalf of Coyote.

California Fish and Game Commission Michael Sutton, President,
Richard B. Rogers, vice-President
Jim Kellogg, Jack Baylis, Jacque Hostler-Carmesin

Dear Commissioners,

Thank you for engaging in the hard work of bringing the will of Californians as expressed in Assembly Bill 2402 to bear on the California Fish and Game Code.

BIrd Ally X fully supports the advances being made in our state’s relationship with, and regard for, our wild neighbors. The change in Californians’ appreciation for wildlife, wild lands, and wild systems over the decades is very encouraging. As advocates for our patients – injured and orphaned wild animals – we also support the Commission’s commitment to employ ecosystem-based management and use credible science in decisions regarding the wildlife with whom we share our beautiful state.

Coyote pup in care at Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center (photo: Laura Corsiglia/BAX)

Coyote killing contests are one example of an activity that serves no scientific purpose. They are contrary to the best available science regarding coyote management. We stand with Project Coyote, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and others in calling for an end to these contests. We recommend that you give serious consideration to the credible, peer-reviewed science these groups have presented that demonstrates the need for a management plan for coyotes and all predators that takes a rational, effective approach which promotes co-existence.

Natural systems depend on this advance, as do individual animals who are orphaned by the careless disregard for life exemplified in these killing contests.  Non-lethal methods of coyote control (e.g gaurd dogs, lambing sheds, predator lights, etc.) have been shown to be more effective at protecting livestock. Eradication efforts and lethal measures to control coyote populations have been shown repeatedly over decades to fail. Poisons, leg-hold traps, guns, explosives, fire and flood have all been used in gruesome and barbaric attempts to extirpate this animal, iconic and revered in North America for millenia. Adaptable and resilient, coyotes’ population has exploded. As Wyoming folk-wisdom has it, “kill one coyote, two appear.”

Lethal means have been known to be cruel and productive of the opposite of their intended results for nearly as long as they’ve been employed. Still, there are virtually no limitations placed on coyote killing in California. Coyote hunting has rightfully earned a reputation as an irrational blood sport.  There is no legal, scientific or moral justification for killing contests. What constitutes a proper relationship with the natural world is poorly represented in such a contest. The posture of respect that is the hallmark of a true hunter is absent. Now that the spotlight is shining on these gruesome contests we urge the Commission to ban them. To not do so now would be to sanction wanton, senseless killing and set California back in its commitment to science and good stewardship.

California’s wildlife rehabilitators work hard on behalf of our state’s wild animals, supported almost solely by our communities. Our patients are almost exclusively victims of our modern world. Our neighbors largely share our concerns, as do thousands and thousands of others, from all walks of life – it’s commonly perceived that wildlife killing contests are repugnant and must, in the face of true understanding and scientific knowledge, be seen as outdated, outmoded and an out and out travesty.
Coyotes and all wild animals deserve respect. As wildlife care providers, it is our duty and our mission to work to modify those aspects of our lives that cause unnecessary injury and are unnecessarily cruel.

Co-existence is the only humane future, especially since so much has been lost through negligence, cruelty and inaction. The eras of wild animal killing contests are past. That previous generations have decimated or extinguished so many other populations – bisons of the great plains, eskimo curlews, passenger pigeons – in similarly wanton displays is a shame and disgrace yet to be lived down.   The natural world needs people who are compassionate, who are kind, who prefer life over cruelty. Killing contests foster none of these qualities.

We urge you to carry through and help California lead the way into a more rational, civil and humane world. Please end these wanton wastes of real lives. Ban killing contests.   Thank you again for taking up this issue and for the hard work that each of you do.

Project Coyote has started an online petition to put an end to this wantonly cruel, environmentally stupid bloodsport. Read it, sign it, share it here.

Resources and Literature

Fox, C.H. (2006) Coyotes and Humans: Can We Coexist? Animal Protection Institute, Sacramento, California

on the success of non-lethal management that promotes co-existence: Fox, C.H. (2008) Analysis of The Marin County Strategic Plan for Protection of Livestock & Wildlife: An Alternative to Traditional Predator Control. Master’s thesis. Prescott College, Prescott, AZ. 112 p.

on the importance of keystone predators such as coyote in an ecosystem: Henke, S.E., and Bryant, F.C. (1999) Effects of coyote removal on the faunal community in Western Texas, Journal of Wildlife Management 63, 1066–1081.

on the failure of indiscriminate coyote killing to protect livestock: Berger, K.M. (2006) Carnivore-Livestock Conflicts: Affects of Subsidized Predator Control and Economic Correlates on the Sheep Industry. Conservation Biology 20:751-761.

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Monte Merrick

Prevention is the highest form of care!

Did an open dumpster marinate this gull?

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Monte Merrick

Western Gull contaminated by food gets emergency bath. Oil spill response techniques can be used on greasy tomato sauce too!

On a Thursday morning in late October, Eureka PD’s animal control officer, Rob Patton, pulled up in his truck with another patient for us. He’s one of our best repeat customers. Whether a raccoon baby, an opossum, a snake, or a songbird found in the road, Officer Patton does what he can for the wild animals of Eureka who get in harm’s way.

This time he had an adult Western Gull. Elissa Blair, one of BAX/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center’s volunteer staff, had first look at the bird. Before setting eyes on him she knew he smelled like rotten meat. And when she got him out of the box she discovered he was bright orange.

Western Gull in care, contaminated by pasta sauce?

Sometimes, it’s hard to know exactly what happened to cause an injury to a wild animal. Cat bites, window strikes, being hit by a vehicle – these are relatively easy to figure out. First theories about what had happened to this gull included dyes, paints, food coloring and more, all purposefully done by someone simply to torture this animal. Well, it is certainly true that such people exist. We treat far too may animals who were injured by intentional acts of cruelty.

But this case, a gull found near the restaurants of Old Town Eureka, the smell of rancid meat, and feathers the color of tomato sauce stains, we finally determined that the bird must have been “dumpster-diving” and gotten into somebody’s very old and discarded supper. For wildlife, restaurant grease traps and dumpsters are a source of food that can have a terrible cost. If this gull hadn’t been rescued, as weather got colder, his lack of waterproof feathers would have started to limit his choices, until he was forced to scavenge dumpsters only and rely on them for his only nutrition. Soon he would be thin and in poor health. Soon after that, he would be dead.

Fortunately, perhaps because of his orange feathers, his condition was noted and he was captured before his health had begun to fail. All he really needed was a good warm, sudsy bath.

With our extensive oil spill experience, and the infrastructure we built at HWCC for the 2011 and 2012 fish-oiled Brown Pelican response, we were able to clear up his troubles quickly.

BAX/HWCC staff Lucinda Adamson and Elissa Blair wash Western Gull.

It didn’t take long to get his bath water dirty!

Now that’s a clean tail.

Rinsing the soap out – the magical moment when clean water appears to make feathers dry!

Internal code, and some happy talk! (all above photos: Carol Andersen/BAX)

A few days after his bath, his feathers were waterproof and he was flying around the aviary. A short visit to rehab was all he needed. We released him closer to the ocean than Eureka… he’s free, of course to return to the open dumpsters of downtown, but we’re hoping he falls in with a more sea-going crowd and lives the life of a true gull – no lasagne – just fish, crabs, and whatever other tasty treat rolls in on the surf.

Thank you for supporting our work! This gull, and every animal we treat, receives the highest quality care we can provide, thanks to your contribution!

(All release photos: Laura Corsiglia/BAX)

Remember, we rely on your support to keep on keeping on! Your tax-deductible donation is greatly appreciated!

Wildlife Matters #2 available in mp3

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Monte Merrick

A great new radio program from the Redwood Coast!

Western Grebes Need Your Help

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Monte Merrick

Young birds, tossed by big seas, struggle on area beaches. Over 50 Grebes rescued so far! Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center needs your help providing these birds a second chance.

Western Grebes, elegant and graceful, recover in our seabird pool

During the second week of October a period of rough ocean conditions began on the North coast with breakers higher than 16 feet. Immediately Humboldt Wildlife Care Center/BAX began admitting immature Western Grebes who had been tossed on the beach by the big waves.

A young Grebe in a transport carrier. Eye protection is a good idea when handling these birds!

To date, we have admitted 50 of these elegant black and white birds for care. All of them are young birds. Western grebes raise their families all over the west on freshwater lakes. Once their young can fly and hunt for fish on their own, they depart the lakes to spend the winter along the coast on bays, inlets, river mouths and on the open ocean, often seen just beyond the break in large groups called rafts.

Checking body condition: many of our patients are emaciated.

Young birds who are unfamiliar with the ocean can struggle with storms and high seas, leaving them vulnerable. A few days of not being able to eat and they may find themselves too weak to recover on their own. Add to this mix the modern challenges of unpredictable ocean health due to a disrupted climate, overfishing and the pollution stream that comes from all sides, and the near-shore environment can now be seen as a much less hospitable place for young seabirds.

Blood is drawn for simple tests that can help us determine the overall health of each bird.

Once in care, all oceanic birds require resource-intensive treatment. Each bird eats a pound of fish a day! Rehydrating fluids, anti-parasite medicine and nutritional supplements also are needed.

After millions of years of evolution, Grebes are unable to tolerate being on land, or any hard surface, and must quickly be housed in pools. Clean water is absolutely necessary for their recovery. We conserve our resources as much as we can, but we still need your help providing these fundamental necessities for our patients.

A slightly warmed pool helps weakened Grebes get back on water – a must if they are to survive.

Each bird eats about a pound of fish a day.

Some tossed fish encourage our patients’ appetite while in the stressful captive environment.

Fortunately Western grebes are highly social and prefer to be with others.

Once healthy, the young birds are released into Humboldt Bay, where many species of prey-fish are abundant.

Thanks to community support we have released 18 of these birds back into the wild. We still have 14 Western Grebes in care who need you to help cover the costs of their ongoing treatment. A few more are admitted each day. Please give what you can.

Our mission to help individual animals survive against the challenges modern society has placed on the natural world is only possible with your support. As you scroll through the photographs of our patients, you can enjoy knowing that your contribution provides the best care available for struggling wild animals here on the beautiful Redwood Coast. Any amount helps. Besides financial support you can also help spread our work by sharing this page. Invite us to present at your club or organization. We love to talk to our community about wildlife and how we can all help. Contact us at info@birdallyx.net!

all photographs Laura Corsiglia/BAX

Young Western Grebes in Trouble

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Monte Merrick

UPDATED: 15 Western Grebes admitted for care today. More possibly coming tomorrow.

Please help!

Over last weekend Humboldt Wildlife Care Center/BAX began admitting several Western grebes into care. Battered by unusually high surf, these young birds, freshly arrived from lakes across our region, have been beaching from the Samoa peninsula to Crescent City. Right now we have eight in care, with at least that many awaiting rescue. These elegant birds, black and white with long necks, pointed bills, and red eyes, are rarely seen on land. Evolved for pursuing fish beneath the waves, on beaches they are in serious trouble.

Once rescued, they will receive expert care at our facility in Bayside. Please help us provide food, medicine and clean water. Your contribution will go a long way toward giving these birds another chance. Thank you for being an ally in this life saving work.

Can You Help?

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Monte Merrick

Each year BAX/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center raises a certain amount of money. Without this money we could accomplish nothing. Our supporters make a big difference everyday in the lives of injured and orphaned wild animals.

Food for our pateints.
Medical supplies.
Patient housing.
Water.
Electric.
Gas for rescues across our huge geographical area
Small stipends for our most critical staff.

These are the direct costs of helping individual wild animals and wild families. We also advocate for wild animals in an effort to shift public policy toward peaceful co-existence with our wild kin. Producing workshops and educational materials for wildlife rehabilitators is another way that we work to improve the conditions and ameliorate some of the negative impacts our society has on wild animals.

Your support is critical to these efforts. And we need your support now.

This year we’ve had more wild patients brought to us than ever. Now we need your help more than ever. After a very taxing Spring and Summer we need help now recovering from our costs. We need help making the needed repairs to our facility. We need help paying our water bill. This is the very ordinary, very work-a-day, real word of direct animal care. Loving wild animals means providing clean water for pools. It means laundry soap. It means late nights writing letters to our policy makers. We express our love for baby wild mammals with food that will help them grow and learn what it means to be a a wild and free adult.

Help us grow so that we can provide for all of Northern California’s wildlife. Help us build our Aviary in Manila specifically for pelicans and other large seabirds. Help us provide the kind of professional staff our region’s wildlife needs and deserves.

Please donate. Please.

Thank you for being a part of this life-saving work.

Unified, to better serve Wildlife

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Monte Merrick

Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center are one wildlife service organization!

This is such an important occasion for us! After 3 years of partnership, BAX/HWCC have merged our distinct organizations in to one to better use our resources and be more effective at meeting our mission. We are excited and optimistic for this opportunity to expand our capacity to meet the needs of injured and orphaned wildlife on California’s North Coast and beyond and to practice and teach proven best practices and foster advances in wildlife rehabilitation.

As the region’s only permitted all-species wildlife rehabilitation clinic, we serve an enormous geographical area, covering nearly 20,000 square miles. Extending from northern Mendocino County to Curry County, Oregon, and east as far as Weaverville in Trinity County, our responsibility to provide care for injured and orphaned wildlife is weighty.

This region is more than simply large, however. Radiating out from our clinic in the heart of the Jacoby Creek Watershed through the ancient Redwoods, the dune forests, the near shore ocean, and the mountains to the east, our home-place is a potentially critical refuge. As the reality of climate change takes hold, it is becoming apparent that temperate North American rain forest – stretching from here to Alaska – may be key for many species’ survival. As a committed ally of the wild, BAX/HWCC doesn’t take this lightly.

A sense of urgency is growing in communities everywhere, that we must act now, and with intelligence, if we are to preserve ourselves and our wild neighbors.

In these shared current circumstances, joining together makes sense.

Unquestionably, a major component of protecting wild animals from injury and keeping their families together is to advocate for and practice place-based, energy-aware wildlife care.

BAX/HWCC, with your support, is able to provide leadership and innovation as we accept the challenge of making true progress for our relationship with our wild neighbors, especially as viewed by the generations that will follow ours. Together we match extensive professional wildlife care experience – from around our state, our country and our world – with the rooted knowledge and deep affection long time residents of our region have for our home.

Bringing familiarity with “state of the art” facilities, combined with the organic know-how, responsible husbandry and sustainable practices needed to reduce waste and repurpose the material wealth of our world, BAX/HWCC offers a possibility for the future of wildlife rehabilitation that is adaptable and resilient in uncertain times.

Most importantly, and most practically, this union allows us to streamline our efforts at outreach and education. Encouraging co-existence with our wild neighbors is as important as providing quality rehabilitative care. Because we reach out to a diverse community, our message of humane solutions for human/wildlife conflicts is one of our most effective forms of animal care!

As one entity our materials and programs can be efficiently designed and the burden of costs can be jointly shouldered. Our ability to ensure that the overall community is aware of the services to wildlife we provide will be enhanced by this streamlining as well. We look forward to producing more quality materials for schools, agencies and organizations.

We also will be “rolling out” our new website by the end of the year with expanded resources, thanks to support from the McLean Foundation and the Humbodlt Area Foundation.

There is, in short, a lot of work to be done. Against all our modern catastrophes, hands are needed everywhere. At Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center we are committed to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of injured and orphaned wild animals. We believe that no matter what crises we face, these individual animals whose lives are disturbed by the industrial world, will always deserve the best available care.

Thank for your support of our organizations in the past, and for helping us reach this exceptional place. Now we ask for your continued support as we embark on this new era.

With warm appreciation,|
The Board, Staff and Volunteers of Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center