Newly orphaned nestlings and fledglings need your help! It’s spring, hence a time of re-generation. For many birds in New York City, however, this is not always good news. These babies have been pushed out of nests by larger siblings, have fallen out due to stormy weather, or “kidnapped” by people who don’t know any better. Kindhearted New Yorkers rescue these babies every day and bring them to the Wild Bird Fund at a rate of 3 to 5 per day. Baby birds need constant feeding in order to thrive. The Wild Bird Fund is in desperate need of people who can “mother” these birds in this critical time from now until the end of August.

If you feel that you can commit to a 4-hour shift at least once a week for a minimum of 4 weeks, any day of the week from 9 A.M to 7 PAM, we’d like to train you. You must be 16 years of age or older.

A training session will be held this Sunday, May 13, from 1 to 3 PM at the new Wild Bird Fund Center, 565 Columbus Avenue. Please let us know of your interest. Contact  Rita McMahon. And Happy Mother’s Day!

By Jen Jie Li

photo: Fred Cohen

A baby cardinal was left with its sibling in a box on the doorstep of an apartment building on the Upper West Side. Arina, a resident in the building, brought the birds to the Wild Bird Fund where they where found to be malnourished and dehydrated. Sadly, one of the siblings died within two days. This one survived, thriving in a cage with two mockingbirds, one adult cardinal, and a starling.

photo: Fred Cohen

This fledgling mockingbird was found on the sidewalk of Main Street & Union Turnpike in Kew Gardens. At the time, this fledgling was barely moving. Its eyes were closed with its head drooping. If it had been alert and healthy, it should have been left alone or placed in a nearby shrub. It’s normal for fledglings to spend several days on the ground.

In this particular case, however, it was apparent that the bird would not make it without intervention. The rescuer, Anthony, brought it to the Wild Bird Fund, where it was treated for dehydration and fed FONS formula for nestling songbirds, and where it met another mockingbird, a baby cardinal, a starling, and a noble Roman bust.

photo: Jen Jie Li

Juvenile songbirds raised in captivity need a process of “soft release,” through which they learn how to forage outdoors in the company of other adult birds (rather than finding their food in small bowls). The good news is that songbirds mature quickly. Within four weeks both the cardinal and mockingbird were taken to the Raptor Trust in NJ for soft release in the fall.

By Jen Jie Li

photo: Fred Cohen

On September 9, Sarah found an adult Yellow-billed Cuckoo on the sidewalk of 44th Street between Lexington and Third Avenue. The cuckoo was cowering and unable to fly, so Sarah brought it to the Wild Bird Fund. The cuckoo had an injured right wing and broken collarbone.

The Wild Bird Fund prescribed two weeks of peaceful “cage rest” for the cuckoo – who the WBF named Sarah, after it’s rescuer – but Sarah had her own ideas. Sarah took an instant dislike to that “other bird” in the mirror and engaged in fierce pecking battles with its reflection – leading the the rehabbers to suspect that Sarah was a boy.

photo: Fred Cohen

Sarah also refused to eat the food given to him in his cage, so he had to be hand-fed to be kept from starving. Sarah was not a happy bird. Before the two weeks were up, however, this brave cuckoo was eating blueberries and mealworms on its own, flying short distances, and darting out of its cage at every opportunity. After making a full recovery, Sarah was released in Central Park.

A Wild Bird Fund volunteer feeds Sarah with FONS formula for insectivores through a tube and syringe. photo: Jen Jie Li

About the Yellow-billed Cuckoo

• Cuckoos are a rare sighting in Manhattan.
• Yellow-billed Cuckoos prefer to live in open woodland areas with clearings and scrubby vegetation along the water.
• Although still prevalent in the eastern part of the US, the Cuckoo’s population in the West has dropped drastically in the last century.
• The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is listed as endangered in California.
• The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is also known as the Rain Crow because its calls are heard more often on cloudy days.
• Have you heard the Yellow-billed Cuckoo?

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The Wild Bird Fund currently is caring for 69 birds – and that number is growing every day. Most of the birds are babies who need round-the-clock feeding and care. We have sparrows, robins, pigeons, kestrels, a blue jay and a cardinal, and they all need your help.

In order to continue providing care for the birds that come in on a daily basis and take care of our growing flock, we’re turning to you for help.

The Wild Bird Fund needs volunteers to feed the birds throughout the day (we’ll train you) and foster homes where the birds can stay until being released (again, we’ll train you). If you can volunteer your time or open your home, we’d like to talk to you.

Please call us at: 646-306-2862

New York’s wild bird population and The Wild Bird Fund thank you.

New York City is the only major U.S. city without a dedicated wildlife rehabilitation center. The Wild Bird Fund is about to change that, and we really need your help.

Big news! The Wild Bird Fund just signed a ten-year lease for 565 Columbus Ave., an attractive storefront just across the street from Animal General and the Center of Avian and Exotic Medicine. Our architect is already drawing up the plans for the build-out, for which we have financing. All we need now is the money for medical equipment, supplies, cages, and operating expenses.

So, please join us on June 18 at the Boat Basin Cafe for The Wild Bird Fund Takes Flight, a summer fundraiser.

The celebration includes:

• A raffle
• A silent auction
• Live demonstrations of rehab techniques
• An opportunity to meet our rehab team and some of our patients

When: June 18, 2011 from 4 to 8 pm.
Where: Boat Basin Café, W. 79th St. at the Marina
Tickets: $20, children free

Tickets are tax deductible and available at the door and online.

If you are unable to join us but still want to help New York City’s wildlife, you can make a donation at wildbirdfund.com or by mail; Wild Bird Fund, 558 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024

Spread the word: Tell your friends! See you there!

When he got the call to attend to a duck tangled in fishing line on April 30, Animal Care and Control rescuer Brendon Ocasio didn’t expect anything unusual, but upon arriving to the scene in Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn, between Bensonhurst and Coney Island, Brendon knew this rescue would be anything but usual. Instead of finding a tangled up duck, he found a Brant, a small ocean goose, so badly tangled in fishing line that it was tethered to an algae-covered rock about 10 feet out into the bay. To make the situation even more dire, a 20-ft. embankment separated Brendon from the Brant.

“The tide was coming in and he was getting smacked up (against the rocks). I was ready to get in the water,” Brendon says. Realizing that the Brant was in distress, Brendon acted quickly. He didn’t have a ladder or repelling equipment, so Brendon did the next best thing: He tied the lead ropes he uses in dog rescues to the embankment’s railing and lowered himself, armed with a carrier, into the bay. As he carefully climbed over the slick rocks, Brendon saw that the Brant’s leg, body and wing were wrapped in fishing line. “I’m for people fishing, but throw away your stuff,” Brendon says.

Brendon approached the Brant, cradled it in his arms, and cut away enough of the fishing line to free the Brant and place it in the carrier. The Brant remained calm as Brendon freed it from the rock. “It was really tired; it had obviously been fighting for awhile,” Brendon says. “But I knew no matter what, we were going to get him.”

Brendon climbed back up the embankment where a crowd had gathered to watch the rescue – including the woman who called it in and took the photos – with the Brant secured in the carrier, and headed to The Wild Bird Fund, currently located at Animal General on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. There, rehabbers removed the rest of the fishing line from the exhausted Brant – the line was wrapped twice around its left wing and wound tightly around its left leg – and applied a pressure bandage to the wound from where the line cut into the goose’s leg.

From a distance, the Brant resembles a diminutive Canada goose but with a blacker head, neck and chest, and a white, broken collar. Brants are common to the New York area, but the chances of seeing them in the city are slim. These are coastal geese that winter along the shore and then fly off to the high Arctic tundra in the spring for mating season.

The Brant stayed with The Wild Bird Fund until May 6 when Robin, who works for Animal General, took it back to the boat landing at Gravesend Bay for release. Robin said that the Brant, who arrived at The Wild Bird Fund exhausted and stressed, was very impressive as it flew off to join other Brants.

The Wild Bird Fund is grateful for Brandon and other animal rescuers for their passion and dedication to helping New York’s wildlife. When asked what he was thinking that day when he climbed over the embankment to rescue the Brant, Brandon says, “I was thinking of the steps I needed to take…This isn’t a job for me; it’s a passion.”

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Migration season is in full swing and soon the parks, lakes and rivers will be full of little ones: ducklings, egrets, flickers, robins, kestrels, goslings…a new generation of wild birds is being introduced to New York’s wildlife landscape. At the moment, The Wild Bird Fund is tending to two types of babies: pigeon chicks and baby squirrels.

Bill the Pigeon

Ask anyone who lives in an urban area if they have ever seen a pigeon chick (make sure the person you ask doesn’t raise pigeons or work with them), and the answer will almost always be “no”. In fact, some people think that pigeon chicks are a thing of myth. Well, here he is: the rare and elusive rock pigeon chick, Bill. This little bird is impossibly cute. He gets fluffier by the day, and he bounces and coos while being fed. Bill is just one of a number of pigeon chicks being cared for by The Wild Bird Fund and our volunteers.

Toni, Tony, Tone

Squirrels are funny creatures (and not always in the “ha-ha” sense). I have a friend who once was confronted by a Dairy Queen spoon-wielding squirrel in her kitchen (true story, I promise). Another has tales of squirrels exacting revenge on her barking dogs. But before squirrels mature into their shifty ways of adulthood, they are adorably curious and sweet.

This baby squirrel trio was rescued by Wild Bird Fund volunteer Arina after their nest was destroyed. Arina is bottle feeding and tending to them until they are old enough to be released.

We expect the number of baby birds and animals that arrive at The Wild Bird Fund to increase in the next few months. If you encounter a baby bird, here is a set of instructions to help you carefully assess the bird’s needs and take the right actions. Please remember, whenever you find an injured bird, please contact The Wild Bird Fund if you are in the New York City area, or a federally licensed bird rehabilitator near you.

If you are interested in providing a foster home for some of our birds, please contact us at rehabbers (at) wildbirdfund (dot) com.

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Migration is peaking and our rehabbers have been extremely busy these past weeks. We’ve seen a woodchuck, baby squirrels, baby opossums, pigeons, gulls, woodcocks and the following:

A female cardinal that Roy described as “having a bite like a pitbull.”

One of three flickers that we’ve seen so far this spring.

A quail that escaped someone’s dinner plate. (This bird is not indigenous to New York.)

A beautiful scarlet tanager.

A handsome Blackburnian warbler.

And, of course, the usual suspects:

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If high fashion had a bird mascot, it would have to be Rachel, the white Fancy Pigeon. Rachel is a Sattinet: She has large, round eyes and a small pink beak, and her feathers frame her head like the turned-up collar of a ruffled coat. She also bears a resemblance to Claudette Colbert.

We are looking for a home for Rachel. She has a sweet disposition, and likes to fly around and pose on desks and bookcases. She does has one special need: Rachel’s top and bottom beaks are crossed, so her top beak has to be filed every two weeks.

If you can open your home to this pretty lady, please let us know. And if you have room for two pigeons, Rachel has grown fond of another fancy pigeon at The Wild Bird Fund, a handsome, copper-colored male we’ve been calling Romeo.

To inquire about Rachel – or to find out how you can be a bird foster – please contact The Wild Bird Fund at 646.306.2862 or rehabbers (at) wildbirdfund (dot) com.

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It’s funny how one gloriously, disproportionately warm day in mid-March makes us shed our winter garb and celebrate the idea of not wearing a heavy winter coat, hat and gloves again for another seven months – only to wake up the next day to freezing temperatures. We’re not the only ones fooled into thinking Mother Nature’s Spring Previews are the real deal. A fantastically warm day last month not only beckoned coat-free, sandal-clad New Yorkers to the street, it woke up a little bat named Ari.

Ari came to The Wild Bird Fund at the end of last month after being picked up by Wild Bird Fund volunteer Arina. He was found lying on the ground outside her building during March’s final cold snap. We suspect that he came out of hibernation early due to the month’s balmier days, but then the cold temperatures sent him into torpor.

Ari is an Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis) who lives year round in trees and feasts on insects. He has dense red fur with white tips, and a furred tail membrane that he can curl up around his body like a blanket. He really is a sight to behold: He has tiny, glossy, pin-point black eyes, conical ears that look like high-tech devices, a turned-up nose, and the tiniest little pointy teeth (don’t let the size of the teeth fool you, this guy is a meal worm-eating machine!). Watching him fly is a treat – he flies across the room and flips as he nears a wall like a swimmer doing laps, not touching the wall until he decides to land.

Because the weather is still so inconsistent, Ari will stay with The Wild Bird Fund until mid-April. He spends his days in his own securely closed, darkened, tree leaf-decorated habitat, hanging from a drape, noshing on meal worms, and taking short flights.

What To Do if You Find a Bat

First of all: Never, ever handle a bat with bare hands. Bats are a rabies vector species. If you are bitten by a bat, or if bat saliva gets in your nose, eyes or mouth, seek medical attention immediately.

If a bat is found in a sleeping person’s room, contact a medical professional.

If the bat is indoors

• Wait until it is motionless, then carefully approach the bat wearing thick gloves. Use a towel to gather the bat, paying careful attention to prevent injury to its toes or thumbs.
• Put the bat in a secure container before getting it help. Bats are escape artists able to slip through minute openings.
• If the bat seems to be injured, call The Wild Bird Fund or other licensed wildlife rehabilitator for assistance. If the bat is simply in the wrong place (inside your home, for example), wait until nightfall to release it.
• Never try to rehabilitate a bat on your own. Bats should only be treated by trained animal healthcare professionals (for your safety and that of the bat).

For more information on what to do if you’ve found a bat, please visit Bat World Sanctuary.

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