A team of six oiled wildlife response experts from International Bird Rescue has been deployed to Montana following the Yellowstone River Pipeline Spill. The response team, headed up by Director Emeritus, Jay Holcomb, began arriving in Billings, Montana, on July 3 and will be working with state and federal wildlife agencies to help coordinate the … Read more
“Populations are made up of individuals, and if you start looking at individuals as if they’re not important, then ultimately the population becomes unimportant.” – Jay Holcomb, Director Emeritus, International Bird Rescue, in the film Saving Pelican 895, which airs starting April 20 on HBO Rescuing Birds During the Gulf Oil Spill When the BP … Read more
Hello everyone, There has been a catastrophic oil spill on a remote island in the mid-South Atlantic Ocean that is threatening an entire colony of endangered Northern Rockhopper Penguins. The MS Oliva ran aground on Nightingale Island, one of three islands of the Tristan da Cunha group, on March 16, 2011. All 22 crew were … Read more
Hello everyone, Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Oregon Standard Oil Spill, the massive 800,000 gallon spill that occurred in San Francisco Bay in 1971. The concept of International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) was born in the midst of the spill because it was clear way back in 1971 that oil spills were … Read more
From IBRRC’s Jay Holcomb, who is at the center of the BP Gulf oiled bird response in Louisiana: We are almost into July and have just taken in our 600th bird here in Louisiana at the Fort Jackson Bird Rehabilitation Center. The majority of those birds have come into the center in the last 2 … Read more
From Jay Holcomb, IBRRC’s Executive Director: Hi everyone. We are very busy here in Louisiana at the gulf oil spill, but doing well. We are washing the very oiled pelicans and other birds that you have seen on TV and most of them are doing very well. More on that aspect of our work later. … Read more
A new federal bird report on the damage caused by a 2007 San Francisco Bay oil spill says the endangered Snowy Plover survived the spill in good numbers, but other species weren’t so lucky. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report says at least 6,700 ducks, loons, cormorants, gulls, pelicans and other birds were probably … Read more
An International Bird Rescue Response Team was released from alert on Christmas day after a diesel fuel spill dispersed in heavy Alaska seas. The response crew was on standby after a tugboat struck the infamous Bligh Reef last Wednesday and dumped diesel into Prince William Sound. Initial news reports claimed it spilled up to 33,000 … Read more
Ten birds were released by OWCN personnel and volunteers back into the wild this afternoon after successful treatment following oiling in Dubai Star oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The birds included five American Coots, two Western/Clark’s Grebes, a Eared Grebe, a Horned Grebe and a Greater Scaup). The healthy birds were set free in … Read more
We got the nicest note from a kid this past week that always helps keep us moving forward in our bird rescue efforts: I hope these 50 dollars can help save some birds lives. I just wanted you to know that $34 of those dollars are from my allowance. I’m really glad they can help … Read more