The latest episode in Dawn Saves Wildlife’s “The Big Picture,” shown above, features several Brown Pelicans filmed at our Los Angeles wildlife care center in May, including Pelican V01, which arrived at International Bird Rescue facing a common predicament: fish oil contamination. Fish oil contamination occurs when pelicans attempt to retrieve scraps at commercial and … Read more
Photos by Bill Steinkamp Gadwalls are medium-sized ducks that have seen a resurgence in their numbers in recent years, thanks in part to the Conservation Reserve Program and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s North American Waterfowl Management Plan, All About Birds notes. Their diet consists mainly of aquatic vegetation, including pondweed, wigeon grass and water … Read more
Photo by Bill Steinkamp At last count, our Los Angeles center had 72 Western Gulls in care — the vast majority of which are gull chicks we’ve received, many from other wildlife groups in the area. But we’ve also cared for many adults, including these three birds found in particularly unfortunate circumstances (thanks to Neil … Read more
It’s no secret: International Bird Rescue has the best volunteer corps imaginable. Wildlife lovers from all walks of life help us to fulfill the Every Bird Matters mission, from washing dishes and cleaning cages to hands-on work with myriad species of birds in care. So what’s it like to volunteer? We asked Janelle, a physical … Read more
A Western Screech Owl waking up after surgery, photo by Isabel Luevano Though International Bird Rescue primarily cares for aquatic birds, there are times when other animals that fall outside of our usual spectrum of species need our help — including birds of prey. At our San Francisco Bay center, we recently treated two such … Read more
Photo by Paul Berry This Pigeon Guillemot arrived at our Los Angeles center last week, having been found by International Bird Rescue rehabilitation technician Neil Uelman while hiking at Christmas Cove in nearby Rancho Palos Verdes. Here’s the backstory from Neil: I was hiking along the beach and saw a sad-looking juvenile Pigeon Guillemot lying … Read more
Photo by Markus Vetemaa Editor’s note: Recently, a news headline on gillnets and their devastating impact on seabirds duly caught our attention. In a sobering review, scientists concluded that hundreds of thousands of birds are killed every year by these nets, some of which are banned in international waters but common elsewhere in coastal fisheries. … 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
Photo by Andreas Christensen via The Bird Rescue Center Thanks to everyone who attended Thursday’s heron and egret release at Laguna de Santa Rosa! Here’s some great shots of the release from three different lenses. Via Sean Scully of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat: For Isabel Luevano, rehabilitating lost and injured baby birds is a … Read more
Sightings of our banded rehabilitated pelicans are always informative, bringing us new clues about their travels and survivability in the wild. Here are a few recent stories from the pelican sighting files. Pelican P20 and young birds on the fringe of their range Why do pelicans become habituated to piers, fisherman and fishing areas? Brown … Read more