The year of 2021 brought International Bird Rescue one of the highest patient loads in our history. A total of 6,209 birds were treated between our two California wildlife centers!
It was also a big year for rescuing young waterbirds in crisis: 4,969 of our patients that entered care were hatch-year birds. This number includes seven endangered Western Snowy Plovers raised in our care and thousands of threatened Elegant Terns.
In July, Bird Rescue responded to a major crisis facing an Elegant Tern colony that had setup a huge colony on barges in the Long Beach Harbor. We cared for 3,108 of those affected terns both in our Los Angeles center and in the field after the young birds fell from their nests off the barges.
In addition to being activated for the Huntington Beach spill response in October 2021, our team washed 118 individual contaminated birds over the past year.
These numbers reflect the incredible work of our Bird Rescue staff, and the unwavering support from our community. Thank you for being a part of it!
Read the full report: 2021 Year in review in The Aviary (PDF)