The beginning of 2010 was not a good time for California Brown Pelicans. As rough winter weather pounded the west coast, it hampered the seabird’s ability to forage for food.
This story spans eight years and crosses international borders – all wrapped up in the journey of International Bird Rescue’s most famous former patient and parent, a California Brown Pelican banded E17 after his rehabilitation in 2010 at our Los Angeles center. E17 created quite a buzz when he was spotted for the third time … Read more
Editor’s Note: Thank you to our long time employee, Suzie Kosina, for preparing this piece. When we release our rehabilitated patients, we often wish them “good luck” on their way back to life in the wild. While the superstitious might prefer “break a leg”, we know all too well the very real risk these … Read more
Connor Mathews was a junior majoring in Wildlife Conservation and Ecology at the University of Nevada, Reno, when he started his internship, sponsored by the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation (HCBF), at Bird Rescue. He had already volunteered with Bird Rescue, so he was very familiar with the clinic and the birds we care for. Eager … Read more
Earlier this month, a Brown Pelican with the blue band “N39” came back into care, after two previous stays with us. This individual, who was last in care in last July for an abdominal puncture and a toe injury, was released last summer after those wounds healed. He first arrived in care nearly seven years … Read more
Our Blue-banded Pelican Program has become important to a lot of pelican enthusiasts who like the idea of connecting with California Brown Pelicans as individuals with personal histories. But to Bart Selby, connecting in this way seems like a calling of the highest order. This self-described Brown Pelican fan has become one of the super-reporters … Read more
We take a lot of pride in our bird-banding program — especially when we get reports on birds sighted hundreds of miles from their release point. A case in point is P63, a female hatch-year Brown Pelican. P63 was found stranded in June 2014 in Santa Cruz and treated at our San Francisco Bay Center … Read more
Dear supporters of International Bird Rescue, Tuesday marked the end of my first week as Executive Director, and what a week it has been! For my first few days, I had the privilege of being among the incredibly capable team at our southern facility, the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care Center. Led by Operations Manager … Read more
Everyone here at International Bird Rescue is thrilled that Pelican Dreams, a documentary by Judy Irving six years in the making, takes flight this week in theaters throughout the San Francisco Bay Area — and across the country soon afterwards! Irving has dedicated the film in memory of International Bird Rescue director Jay Holcomb, who … Read more
Protecting Pelicans by Franzi Muller for International Bird Rescue. Click on image for printable full-size. It’s been a year of disquieting news about one of our beloved and most common patients, the California Brown Pelican. In the words of one prominent wildlife biologist, “the bottom dropped out” this spring at key pelican breeding sites in … Read more