It was the evening of March 31 that we were having a class on hatchling and nestling care for our staff and volunteers. Part of the material in the class was the approximate dates that we tend to start admitting certain species. Roughly, we had until the last few days of April, most years, before Mallard ducklings would begin to emerge. Nestling and fledgling songbirds start coming in about two weeks later.
As an aside to that, we talked about things that we would prioritize to complete in the next few weeks in preparation for the season before all of our time would be taken up by patient care.
The season had other plans. Three days later, April 2, our first hatchling ducks started to come in.
I often tell staff that the two gods I pray to are Necessity and Dumb Luck. I love them both. Necessity tells me what’s next and Dumb Luck helps make it happen sometimes, maybe, you can hope. Necessity said next up is a duckling pond for baby ducks old enough to be housed outside but who still need the heat support that would have been provided by their mother. Necessity also gave us a week to build it.
The part needed that isn’t Necessity or Dumb Luck is no god. That’s where each of us comes in. Elbow grease. Commitment. Community support. By the end of April we finished putting up a waterfowl aviary and adjacent smaller duckling pond, our first since moving to Manila in March of 2023. Maybe what I mean by Dumb Luck is the aspect of our work that requires us to believe that what is necessary will be done, because it must be done. In hindsight, after the accomplishment, one feels enormous gratitude, and also very lucky.
As it happened, the season just got busier and busier from April 2 on – by the end of the week, were getting very tiny Virginia Opossum babies whose mothers had been killed by cars or dogs. By April 11 we had tiny raccoon babies, who had been taken from their mother when their den was uprooted during some “brush removal” in Del Norte County, 80 miles north of us. With neonatal mammals, the feedings are as close to around the clock as we can manage – an inescapable part of parenting, as every parent knows – that we recreate as best as we are able.
So here we are, just past the midway point of the Season of wild orphans – we’ve been working 14 hour days for more than three months now. We still have about two months to go. The fact that we’ve even made it his far is in every way because of your support. Support that stays critical. We still have so much more to come this Season, and we still have a lot to complete to bring our facility back to its proper capacity. Your help is going to keep being needed, hopefully forever. If you can please donate to keep our season going, our doors open, our utilities paid, our food delivered, our medicines covered – our needs met. We do a lot on a little – we can do even more on more. Thank you!!!
Please take a look at our slide show of photographs from what so far has been, it cannot be denied, a WILD WILD BABY SEASON.
Our duckling pond and waterfowl aviary were completed just in time for the 30 Mallards and 6 Gadwalls we’ve treated so far this year! These Mallards are being released into the same lake where we gatherd the duckweed we offered them while in care. 
We treated 11 Canada goslings this year! Each baby is big!! 
Mid-May we admitted a Pigeon Guillemot who had derelict fishing line tangled around their body. After removing the line providing some time in our new seabird pool, we took them back to Trinidad to resume the baby season, no doubt an important member of the baby feeding team. 
Every now and again we admit Western Spotted Skunks! These young skunks were found in Del Norte County and through a series of volunteer drivers, were transported to our clinic on Humboldt Bay. We had them in care for a month until they were ready to face the wild on their own. We took them back to Crescent City. 
After a month in care these orphaned Western Spotted Skunks were released near the location they had been originally found. 
Re-uniting fledgling songbirds with their families is one of our important tasks all Season long. This Cedar Waxwing fledgling was soon the object of great concern when we brought the young bird back to their nest’s location. Adult Waxwings immediately took charge of the situation. 
An adult Cedar Waxwing watches with great interest when weput a Waxwing fledgling we believe is their baby back where the rescuer found them. 
Soon after realizing their baby was back, the parents immediately began to offer food! 
There is no joy like the joy of reuniting families. 
A juvenile Steller’s Jay is released back into the Community Forest where they were found as a nestling on the ground. All corvids are challenging patients in the same way as all gifted and talented children. This Jay was no different – bold, bright and curious! 
Every year we provide care for a few to half a dozen orphaned Gray Fox kits. They eat a lot of rats! Frozen rats cost anywhere from two to four dollars each. When the kits are eating 6 a day, that adds up fast! 
Two brother foxes, who came in when they were still fluffballs with their eyes only recently opened, were released in Mid-July. 
Foxes are amazing animals. They climb like cats, look like dogs, and bark and hiss and scream. Once while we were picking these guys up to do a routine examination, a wild and free adult Gray Fox came near our outdoor fox housing to see what was the matter. Thanks to your suppoort we were able to provide them their needs while they learned to hunt and care for themselves. 
A Red-shouldered hawk, no doubt with a nest and parental duties, was struck by a car on 299, near North Bank Rd. Amazingly the raptor had no injuries! After a day of observation, we returned the hawk to their neighborhood along the Batowat just north of Arcata. 
We’ve treated over half a dozen Brown Pelicans, in a small mirror of the pelican mortality event that occurred in much greater numbers further South, from the Bay area to San Diego. This juvenile Pelican came in emaciated and very cold. Once stable and ready to be housed outdoors, we converted our recently completed waterfowl aviary to meet the needs of a recovering Pelican. After three weeks of rest and plenty of fish, the big young bird was ready to return to Humbold Bay and beyond. The photos that follow are the in sequence of his release on the Samoa Penminsula. 
A month ago, a biologist working out past Willow Creek found a Trukey Vulture baby on the ground in the forest. We’ve had the bird in care for a month now, and let’s just say it takes a lot of carrion to make a grown up Turkey vulture! For a short time, we were able to house this baby with an adult Turkey vulture. The arrangement seemed to work out for both of them. 
An adult Turkey Vulture was found by the side of the road in Fortuna. When our staff arrived on the scene, the bird was very lethargic, barely able to move. Several times over the first few days of care, it seemed they were about to die. But with fluids, nutrition and rest, soon the vulture was awake and alert. Within a week they were strong enough to feed themself. After three weeks, they were ready for the open sky! 
We took the Vulture back to Fortuna and released them by the banks of the Eel River. 
Every once in a while we get a call about a Bald Eagle in trouble. Even less frequently, the animal in trouble actually is an eagle! Grounded, with minor injuries in the woods just east of Arcata, we beleive this adult, presumably male Bald Eagle had tangled with an Osprey over the rightful ownership of some fish. 
Staff member Ash Shields, in the moment when they are holding an injured eagle for an exam for the first time in their life. The occasion is momentous. 
The chance to examine any wild patient is also a chance to teach and to learn. Every patient has something to teach us. This Bald Eagle was no different. 
Because our facility isn’t finished being rebuilt after our move last year, we transferred the Eagle to Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue for further recuperation in their large aviary. When the handsome fellow is ready for release, he will come back to Humboldt. Members of Arcata’s dedicated birding community have reached out to us, hoping to be reassured about the his prognosis. While nothing is certain until release, we beleive that this Eagle has a very excellent chance of soaring again soon over Humboldt Bay. Meanwhile, we are hoping to begin building a new large aviary here by the end of Summer. Your help will make that possible!
We really need your help to keep going this Summer. We still have 2 months or more left of the Season and several hundred animals to admit. Please help us help our wild neighbiors in need! Thank you so much!!!!
