EVW Bird Tracks Blog

No, I haven’t gone crazy. This story came to me from Ginger around Christmas of last year.  Being a hoarder of good news, I kept the blog on file. As Ginger wrote…timing is everything.

Submitted by: Ginger

“I got a call in November about a cockatiel that was found in a city park.  It was weak and seemed to be lost.  One of the Scottsdale employees was kind enough to bring it to me.  I made an appointment to have it seen by Dr Driggers, the avian vet we use for all the birds.  The day of the appointment, I got a call from a woman who had found a cockatiel in her backyard.  She brought it to me that morning.  Timing is everything!  I was able to get both birds to the vet at the same time.  The vet said that both cockatiels were severely underweight and that I shouldn’t be surprised if they did not survive.  I nursed them along for several weeks and they did great.  I kept the birds in separate cages in my quarantine room so that I could monitor their progress and make sure that both were eating.  In mid December, after all the tests came back negative, they were ready to be moved out of quarantine.  I brought them up to be with my other birds so that they could have more activity around them, and I even placed them both in the same cage so they’d have each others company.  Then, the week before Christmas, I got a call from a woman that adopted a Cockatiel from me two years ago.  She wanted to know if I had any more that might be up for adoption.  Again, timing is everything!  She came and picked them up two days before Christmas.”

Blogger’s Note: Not all such stories have such happy endings.  Our volunteers, those who handle domesticated species, are finding that there is an increase of abandoned birds, some left in foreclosed and empty homes, some released “back to the wild”. The domestic birds that are released have very little chance of surviving on their own. ”Released” birds cannot feed themselves and most often fall victim to predators, both human and animal.

As promised, I went back to some archived articles to repost a few of them. This gem came from our volunteer, Ginger, about a chicken rescue.

I got a call last week from a young man in Mesa.  He had a chicken that hopped the block wall into his yard and fell into his pool.  It was bitter cold that night.  The poor chicken was soaked to the bone.  It was evident that she was under attack, most likely by a dog, and that is what caused her to leap the fence.  She had most of her tail feathers missing.  Poor girl!  I wrapped her in a warm towel, brought her home and put her in an aviary holding pen with a heat lamp.  I checked on her several times during the night, and she seemed okay, but she was whimpering and shivering.  I wasn’t sure that she’d pull through.  Next morning there she was standing in the pen all bright and cheery ready to face the day.  It turns out that she is a Black Australorp chicken.  Very pretty girl, well except for the torn tail feathers.  She’s very friendly and can be pet and picked up easily.  She is up for adoption, but I’m pretty sure that Jeannie will be taking her into her flock.

This morning I overslept until 8 AM.  When I walked out the front door to get the newspaper, I noticed a neighbor’s cat by my gate.  I shooed him off and then noticed a little baby dove in a plastic container that someone had put by the gate where the shade was.  If I had walked out there 30 seconds later, that bird would have been cat breakfast! 

 Later a guy called, said he lived nearby and had found the bird and brought it over.  (If he knocked on the door, I didn’t hear it.)  But he did get instructions to never do that again.  People need to realize that they can’t show up at a rehabber’s house unannounced with a rescued animal. And, leaving a rescued animal on the rehabber’s doorstep, especially in this  hot weather can be a death sentence for the animal.  Remember, contrary to popular opinion….Rehabbers are human…they do oversleep; they get sick; they even go on vacation (rarely); or like many of us they use their garage door and never look on the front stoop.  Also, most volunteers specialize in certain animals…SO taking a Cactus Wren to a rehabber who handles only doves or ducks is like taking a parrot to a vet that only takes in cats and dogs.  The right diet and housing is needed for the various species. 

Luckily this story has a happy ending…the little dove was literally saved in the nick of time and is happily cuddled up with 5 new nestmates.

article submitted by: Nancy

Blogger’s note:  East Valley Wialdlife wants to thank all those kind-hearted people who take the time to rescue an animal…but Please, when you find an animal and bring it to a volunteer, call ahead, find out if that volunteer takes that species and don’t just leave the bird on the stoop!