so terribly important to remember that there ARE indeed success stories....which no doubt helps keep the rehabbers doing what they do so well!!!! thank goodness!!

Quote by: beans

The next morning, the coyote had eaten all the mice and rats that staff had placed in his kennel and he was deemed a fit candidate to reunite with his family. Staff connected with the coyote's original finder who located the area where he had seen the adult female coyote.

The young coyote was placed by a nearby tree, and soon he jumped up and started running. A few minutes later, staff saw him duck down into a den. He was safely home.

Male Brewer's Blackbird

Yesterday at Lindsay I set up an incubator for an adult Brewer's Blackbird. To date, most of my contact with songbirds has been feeding the babies. While I cleaned and disinfected the incubator, he waited not-so-patiently in his small brown paper bag. He had just been examined and weighed, and now he was to return to his cleaned incubator with fresh food and water in new dishes.

Songbirds are so different from the large pelagic birds I'm used to, such as grebes, gulls, loons, ducks, pelicans, etc. As I was taking him out of the bag and putting him into the incubator, he got away! I'm told this happens. In fact, this issue was covered during training. One turns out the lights in the room. He was captured (he wasn't flying well and was hiding in a corner). The interns grinned while my face went red. Songbirds are so small and fragile I'm almost afraid to handle them.

An injured Scrub Jay was admitted while I was in the Treatment Room. After a quick body exam, his mouth was swabbed with a long Q-tip that had been moistened with a saline solution. Then the examiner touched the Q-tip to a slide and took it to the microscope. What she was looking for is trichomoniasis. All birds admitted to the hospital are screened for trichomoniasis. New treatments have eliminated epidemics within the hospital. (Trich wasn't found in this bird.) To read more, click here

Lindsay presents the opportunity to work with a variety of wildlife, and I'm finding a like every animal I see. I feel like I'm starting over, and in a way I am.

Male Brewer's Blackbird

Yesterday at Lindsay I set up an incubator for an adult Brewer's Blackbird. To date, most of my contact with songbirds has been feeding the babies. While I cleaned and disinfected the incubator, he waited not-so-patiently in his small brown paper bag. He had just been examined and weighed, and now he was to return to his cleaned incubator with fresh food and water in new dishes.

Songbirds are so different from the large pelagic birds I'm used to, such as grebes, gulls, loons, ducks, pelicans, etc. As I was taking him out of the bag and putting him into the incubator, he got away! I'm told this happens. In fact, this issue was covered during training. One turns out the lights in the room. He was captured (he wasn't flying well and was hiding in a corner). The interns grinned while my face went red. Songbirds are so small and fragile I'm almost afraid to handle them.

An injured Scrub Jay was admitted while I was in the Treatment Room. After a quick body exam, his mouth was swabbed with a long Q-tip that had been moistened with a saline solution. Then the examiner touched the Q-tip to a slide and took it to the microscope. What she was looking for is trichomoniasis. All birds admitted to the hospital are screened for trichomoniasis. New treatments have eliminated epidemics within the hospital. (Trich wasn't found in this bird.) To read more, click here

Lindsay presents the opportunity to work with a variety of wildlife, and I'm finding a like every animal I see. I feel like I'm starting over, and in a way I am.

I thought you might like to see this live feed from Fort Jackson Oiled Bird Center, where volunteers and staff are washing oiled wildlife. In the middle of the room are the tubs of water with Dawn detergent. The water must be very warm so that the birds aren’t chilled. As their internal temperatures are around 104, the water is heated to approximately 106 or so. To the right is the rinsing station. Oxygenated shower heads are used. On this site, you can also watch the cameras monitoring the cap on the oil well.

Live feed here: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com ... 931/720959

Video: Special Bird Bath – Gulf Oil Spill

thanks for putting that up Beans!! It is indeed amazing and dedicated work they are doing down here!!!

this is the third consecutive day that BP has not been exhausting OIL into the Gulf of Mexico!!!! as one might imagine, there is not much confidence here that this is a permananet stop, but it is nice to think that no more was added to the waters today!!!

Recently we released the American Bitterns that we had raised from chicks. We had to be very careful around them, not letting them see us. Feeding them when they were small meant lifting the cover over their shorebird box and using a bird head puppet. I cut up mice for them, which they seemed to appreciate. When they were fully feathered, they were moved to one of the outdoor aviaries.

We released them not far from IBRRC. There’s a creek with trees that runs along Wetlands Lane. Here’s a picture:


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Zooming in, this picture shows you IBRRC on the far right and Wetlands Lane on the left:


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And zooming in more, here’s IBRRC. You can see our pelagic pools and at the bottom the Pelican Aviary. In the parking lot, you can see my little white car. It is the last car in the row with the red car, right next to the rosemary bushes. Our building is huge, but it sure looks tiny in this picture. The building is near the top of the picture.


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The American Bittern (botaurus lentiginosus) breeds in marshy areas of tall vegetation – cattails, bulrushes, or reeds but also in drier areas of tall grasses. Each nests singly, but males may be polygamous, with several females nesting separately within the territory.

The nest consists of a pile of reeds, sedges, or similar plant material available nearby and is built by the female alone. Breeding season begins in late April to May and ends by late July. Two – Five eggs are laid. The female incubates the eggs, beginning with the first egg, for 24 – 29 days. Eggs hatch over several days and young differ in size. Nestlings are semi-altricial and downy. The young leave the nest after about two weeks and are tended nearby. Age at first flight and at independence not known.

Source: Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds by Paul J. Baicich and Colin J. O. Harrison

Beans, he's a handsome bird and it must have been so exciting raising them for release.

Your picture instantly reminded me of a wallpaper I have of a bittern that looks as if he has a bad attitude --- and I love the stance on the rushes

What a picture!