Saving Georgia's Wild Birds

As we wrap up our 5th year as a non-profit dedicated to rehabilitating wild birds and educating the public on their conservation, we have the opportunity to reflect on the wide variety of cases we handle. The year is not quite over yet, but we can report that we have seen the largest volume of patients in a single year in our history! With this report we would like to highlight a few of our interesting cases.

 One of our patients, a beautiful American Goldfinch, arrived to us with a split lower beak. We were able to splint the beak (see photo), but the patient was unable to self-feed while the beak was healing. For cases such as this, we create special liquid formulations to hand feed our patients to provide them with much needed nutrition and calories.  We develop a feeding schedule based upon the weight and breed of the patient, then our volunteers follow a scheduled routine to provide the patient with formula.

Among the more rare species we treat, this year we have cared for a handful of Cuckoos. One of these cases was identified by a homeowner who noticed the bird just sitting on the ground in the same spot for 24 hours. Upon examination, we noticed head and eye trauma likely from a collision of some sort. The bird was quite thin and would not eat on their own.

This is yet another story where hand feeding, and in this case force feeding, was required in order to help the patient regain weight. After some time, we incorporated a variety of live insects to the diet. It turns out that the patient did regain weight and was back to flying and perching as normal. This particular patient remains in our care as of today as we are still treating the vision impairment issue.

In early June we received a call via our helpline regarding a nest of baby Killdeer. This little guy (see photo) and his hatchling nest mates lived in a contained area around an industrial air conditioning system. It had concrete walls, but no top. Sadly, that situation attracted a hawk which killed the rest of his family. One of the employees heard the screaming birds and went out to investigate. She found this little guy alive and brought him to us.

Although he wasn't physically harmed, he was very traumatized. He would not self feed, which as a precocial chick, he should be able to do. We kept him in a quiet environment along with all the foods he should be eating. To make sure he was getting the nutrition he needed we force-fed him a formula until he was comfortable enough to self-feed again. Eventually he came out of shock and started self feeding. He is now thriving out in the wild.

THANK YOU!

Our ability to treat cases like these is highly dependent on donations such as those we receive from you. Without your support we would not be able to handle the more complicated or involved patient cases. We are grateful for your support.

Saving wildlife and educating the public via the Wild Nest helpline

One of our key programs is a helpline offering text, phone and email support to the public in real-time. We use the helpline primarily to determine whether a bird in need requires rehabilitation. This is our frontline to the public and the starting point of our rehab process.

During the baby season we operate the helpline for 10-12 hours/day, 7 days/week mostly supported by volunteers. Our volunteers review photographs to assess patient status, provide information to the finder regarding how to assist the animal, and ultimately will make a determination as to whether the bird requires rehabilitation. Our mission is to save wildlife, and many times this can be accomplished by providing guidance and direction to a finder for them to address the situation remotely.

We have many cases of talking with the public to explain how to build a nest for a clutch of baby birds who have fallen after a storm. We provide information to callers to help them mitigate bird risks in their own backyard such as planting and applying window decals to avoid window strikes. We coach finders regarding what to look for when assessing whether a wild bird actually needs assistance, and when we receive calls for help for animals we don’t treat, we will refer the caller to other organizations for assistance.

Our success isn’t measured by the volume of patients we treat inside the walls of our facility. We firmly believe that a wild animal’s best chance of survival is in the wild. Having this program to assist the public and potentially reduce the need for intakes is critical for our mission and long-term strategy. While our intake volume this year is on par with last year, our text/call volume this year has already reached last year’s total.

We have an enthusiastic team of volunteers who give their time and knowledge supporting the public in this function. It is such a rewarding experience to be able to be a part of the rehabilitation process without needing to be physically onsite with patients – beyond the boundaries of our walls.

Your support enables us to offer this program and continue to maintain our knowledge repository and network of rehabbers around the state.