Photos by Bill Steinkamp As one of our Facebook fans recently put it, “You wouldn’t think such a plain adult would come from such a psychedelic chick.” While American Coot adults have gray/black bodies and white bills, their chicks by contrast have a rebellious streak, including this bird in care at our Los Angeles center. … Read more
Thanks to Tom Reynolds, who shot this beautiful photograph of a Red-Banded Egret in flight, following its release at Laguna de Santa Rosa in Sonoma County. A total of five egrets, seven Black-crowned Night Herons and one Great Blue Heron were released this past Thursday. What’s a Red-Banded Egret? Find out more about this International … Read more
Tern photos by Bill Steinkamp At last count, our wildlife centers are caring for well over 200 birds, from Pied-billed Grebes to a young American Avocet now learning to master catching live feeder fish. Here are two beautiful releases our staff and volunteers photographed earlier this week. According to Audubon, Elegant Terns were historically only seasonal … Read more
The Ruddy Duck you see in the background of the photo above was brought to California Wildlife Center in Malibu late last month with a laceration on the right ventral wing. A few days after its wound was cleaned and sutured, the bird was transferred to International Bird Rescue’s Los Angeles center to receive continued … Read more
Photos and video by Paul Berry Canada goslings, Mallard ducklings and Western Gull chicks (shown above) are among many common orphaned birds cared for each year at our centers. Whenever possible, we introduce a surrogate parent so that baby birds imprint on their own species — a critical aspect of bird development. We currently have … Read more
Tree Swallow, Belle Haven Park and Marina, Alexandria, Va. All images © Kim Taylor. Twitter has proved to be quite the matchmaker for our Photographers in Focus series. We recently came across the work of new follower @ktaylorphotos, aka Kim Taylor, who lives in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and has an eye for the … Read more
Images and video by Michelle Bellizzi Among the many baby birds now in care at our San Francisco Bay center is this Common Merganser chick. Earlier this month, we featured an adult merganser — a Red-breasted Merganser, to be exact — on this blog, one brought to us via an Arizona rehabilitation center (read this … Read more
Photo by Bill Steinkamp Last week, we brought you the story of a rookery tree at the Port of Los Angeles that had blown over in high winds. The L.A. Harbor Department’s tree division appeared on the scene quickly and helped us to save 15 baby birds that had fallen from their nests: 12 Black-crowned … Read more
All photos by Kylie Clatterbuck On Tuesday, high winds toppled this tree near the Ports O’Call Village in San Pedro, located not far from our Los Angeles wildlife care center. Sadly, this tree was a rookery for many Black-crowned Night Herons and Snowy Egrets, and the scene was littered with broken eggs. But the L.A. … Read more
Photo by Cheryl Reynolds This male Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) was recently sent to us from a rehabilitation group in Arizona that was unfamiliar with the species and lacked appropriate water caging. “The bird was found to have a fractured clavicle, a wound on its wing and foot lesions,” says Michelle Bellizzi, center manager of … Read more