|
 It
is winter. All of the Bluebirds are gone, except for the
ones staying here that is. Looking out from a window in
our Intensive Care Area, the landscape is covered in
snow. Our Bird Nursery is quiet now: the summer
soundtrack made up of dozens of peeping orphaned
mallards and the chips, cheeps, chirps and assorted
other sounds of hundreds of other birds has given way to
the occasional hoot from a Great Horned Owl that is
receiving treatment for a serious wing laceration; the
“honk” of a human- imprinted Canada Goose resting under
my desk, and the sound of a Ruddy Duck, being treated
for a chest wound, splashing happily in the bathtub in
the bathroom down the hall.
Looking
back, in some ways it was a typical year: all of our
staff, interns and volunteers working at full speed to
address the needs of the many animals that were in our
care. But there were important changes, too.
Volunteer Baby Bird Feeders (BBFs), guided by two
seasonal interns, weighed every baby bird every day,
provided gentle care and delivered feedings, as often as
every half-hour, to what seemed, mid-summer, to be
countless tiny, gaping mouths. All summer long our
wonderful “BBFs” also provided care for hundreds of
Mallard ducklings and dozens of Wood ducklings, cleaned
bird incubators and enclosures, provided clean nesting
material, prepared food, washed an endless stream of
dishes and watched our fluffy little orphans for signs
of illness. It can’t be said enough how much we
appreciate these (mostly) junior assistants!
Although
our seasonal interns took tremendous care of the many
baby mammals we had in our care this
summer it is our wonderful Home Care Volunteers who once
again stepped-up to provide compassionate, personalized
care for hundreds of other little orphaned Cottontails,
Opossums, Gray Squirrels and
Raccoons, greatly expanding our life-saving capabilities
for baby mammals in need. As for our Mammal
Nursery, the almost constant din of a dozen or more
hungry baby raccoons pleading for their next bottle of
formula has been replaced by occasional chatter from the
Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow and Chimney Swift housed in
a new aviary that temporarily takes up most of the
Mammal Nursery area. All three birds are spending the
winter with us because their fall migration has long
passed, and they were not ready for release earlier in
the year. And the last of our late-season orphaned Gray
Squirrels are now spending the winter in an outdoor
habitat, complete with fresh food, comfy nest boxes and
snug hollow logs.
As for our permanent resident animals, we officially
added a disabled Red-tailed Hawk to our cadre of
educational animals this fall. Volunteers and staff
created housing for this bird by renovating our old crow
cage with new interior wooden slats (these keep the bird
from hurting its feet and feathers on the cage wire). We
also added new perches for our hawk, custom-made by one
of our volunteers, and a new roof too. Dakota the Great
Horned Owl and Indigo the American Kestrel each also had
their habitat interiors renovated, with new perching and
resting areas. And for our very own weather
prognosticator; while he is in an indoor enclosure for
the winter, using mostly donated materials, volunteers
created an outdoor three-season habitat for Waldo the
Woodchuck over the summer.
Thanks
to your support we provided care for 2,115 animals in
2009! And I want to thank you in advance for your
support in 2010; support which will enable us to provide
help for thousands more animals in need that will come
through our doors in the coming year. |
