Rescue & Rehab

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The Turkeys I’ve [Almost] Known

November 18, 2011 Animal Behavior

This post is a tribute to the wild turkeys who walk among us. Every year, Hugh and I Adopt a Turkey from Farm Sanctuary. And every year, I try to somehow commemorate the awesomeness of the wild turkeys I’ve been privileged to be among and photograph. The timing of this new episode from Nature on [...]

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Derelict Nets & Entangled Birds

October 19, 2011 Bay Flotsam

Note: All gulls pictured in this post, and other trapped birds were freed from the netting. Follow Up on 10/21/11: I phoned today and learned that an official went out to this net, confirmed what we saw in terms of bird entanglement, and holes in the net have apparently been fixed as a temporary measure, [...]

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The One I Couldn’t Help

May 16, 2011 Bay Flotsam

It was one of those anomalous sunny days in the midst of Seattle downpours. A Flickr friend of mine told me about a tugboat race on Elliott Bay, so I thought I’d walk the Terminal 91 bike path to the water. The “path” is an industrial slog — a cement slough leading to Puget Sound, [...]

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Watch for Towhees, Flying Low

January 17, 2011 Birds

Spotted Towhees were the elusive ground foragers I never saw enough of in the Bay Area. I’d catch a glimpse as they scuttled under the scrub. Or, occasionally, snapped a photo of one heralding the morning light in the thickets of Tilden Park. My best Spotted Towhee sighting was the trusting bird who let me [...]

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The Crow Who Changed My Life

December 13, 2010 Bay Area Faves

My thanks to Lyanda Lynn Haupt for the book that reminded me to honor my original inspiration: the crow. It’s because of a crow that I became who I am. My mother arrived home one day with a juvenile crow in a box. I was just a kid, fourteen or so. Mom was dropping my [...]

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Lancelot-Guinevere: The Case of the Castle Pigeon

July 20, 2010 Bay Area Faves

Lancelot (no, Guinevere) — lost himself (no, herself) — along the coast of Scotland, where Picts and Druids and Earls and Scots laid claim to the medieval stones of her landing. Just north of these stones lie the crags and cliffs that offer sanctuary for pelagic birds, the calls of whom may have drawn her [...]

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The Wild Things Among Us (Wildcare Video)

May 4, 2010 Northern California

Saw this video at the Wildcare website today– about the local wildlife that shares our Bay Area habitat.

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High Tech Wildlife Rehab

April 21, 2010 Marine Mammals

The view from the Marine Mammal Center’s visiting area, above the rehab pens for sea lions and other Marine Mammals.

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The Animal Rescue Kit

March 17, 2010 Rescue & Rehab

Our “gear” began with a collapsible pet carrier and some work gloves. At that point, we could still transport a few pieces of luggage and one niece or nephew in the backseat. Years later, in the same two-door Civic, we can barely get a turnip in the trunk.

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Noah the Pigeon

March 1, 2010 Doves & Pigeons

When you work in any facet of animal rescue, you hear stories. Often, the worst stories — one-act plays with bad endings. You wonder why on earth this storyteller decided you were the person who needed to hear it. I’ve learned that if an anecdote opens with, “Have I got a raccoon story for you [...]

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How to Detangle a Pigeon

December 10, 2009 Doves & Pigeons

When you’re helping out a pigeon, the reaction from people passing by tends to be polarized: “how sweet” or “disgusting.” Pigeons have such a lousy rap, some people are aghast that anyone would think to rescue one of these birds, let alone touch it.

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No Room at the Inn: A Quail’s Tale

December 6, 2009 Domestic Animals

Japanese Quail are known for shooting upward like missiles, and they can even kill themselves by hitting their noggins on hard surfaces. A Japanese Quail can shoot up and out through a space in the bag that’s narrower than my arm . . .

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A Turkey-Friendly Thanksgiving

November 11, 2009 Agriculture

Several years ago, Hugh and I started our new Thanksgiving tradition of adopting a turkey from Farm Sanctuary. We’ve always been urban dwellers, so actual adoption beyond our one beautiful kitty isn’t an option. But, Farm Sanctuary offers remote adoptions of their rescued turkey folk. Although Farm Sanctuary has a reasonably high profile through their [...]

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Baby Booties For Birds

October 30, 2009 Birds

Last night, H. and I put baby booties on sea birds. Actually, baby socks made into bird booties. There were grebes and murres in our section of the hospital. More than 400 ailing seabirds were driven by van and flown by a Coast Guard C-130 to IBRRC in Fairfield, California. The birds came from Washington [...]

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Learning From a Racing Pigeon

August 28, 2009 Doves & Pigeons

I think the pigeon people are trying to tell me something. Late last year, I took a rambunctious fledgling pigeon to a nearby hospital. In April, I drove two [very] baby pigeons to the same hospital. I’m always snapping pigeon photos even when other photographers sweep their lenses right over the pigeon landscape. So, it [...]

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Things to Know (and Love) About a Japanese Quail

August 6, 2009 Domestic Animals

He was misidentified but not forgotten — this lone Japanese Quail who fluttered his way into a wildlife hospital and then, into our hands and hearts. We gave him an appropriately Japanese name: “Mikiko” which, loosely translated, means “child of the tree.” A fellow volunteer pointed out that he is not, in fact, a child [...]

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The Case of the Misidentified Quail

August 2, 2009 Domestic Animals

He handed over the box: “A rescued quail.” We volunteer at a wildlife hospital, so a safe assumption might be California Quail. But assumptions are frivolous in a world where volunteers — well, mostly us newer ones — sometimes miss on species identification. He clearly wasn’t a California Quail. Their markings are distinct and easy [...]

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The “Three U” Rule of Hazardous Materials

July 9, 2009 Pollution & Trash

Hugh and I just got our initial Hazwoper certification — a Federal OSHA requirement if we want to assist with bird rescue in oil spill areas. That, combined with a wildlife rescue training course we took back in March, will at least put us on the call list during catastrophic wildlife events. During the Cosco [...]

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San Francisco’s Peregrine Falcons & Fledglings

June 5, 2009 Baby Animals

Originally posted in June of 2009, this piece deals with the new fledglings on top of San Francisco’s PG&E Building, but also with general issues of wildlife survival and human interaction.

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Who Says You Never See Baby Pigeons?

April 3, 2009 Birds

Pigeons are meticulous, doting parents . . . which is why you probably won’t see many baby pigeons in the wild . . . if at all. Pigeons produce small broods (usually two babies) and tuck them in nests high on ledges — homes which resemble their ancestors’ cliff dwellings. The pigeon parents feed their [...]

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