Rescue Information

If you have a spotted a bird that needs to be rescued please contact us by telephone. Also please make sure to read the following information below so you are fairly certain that the troubled bird(s) you have seen are indeed in need of help.

Our experience:

In 2004, we took in over 70 animals that were "orphans". Fact is, orphaned wildlife is rare. What some people may perceive as abandonment is in fact the secretive and protective way that wildlife parents care for their young. Unless you have observed an obvious injury to young wildlife or direct evidence that a parent has been killed (cat attack or hit by a car, for example), the advice is always the same: DO NOT INTERVENE. Remember that people are always a wild animal's last hope for survival, but never its best hope.

At Medina Raptor Center, we have a very high success rate in saving baby birds. We can provide a young bird with it's nutritional requirements, but have no way of teaching it survival skills like predator awareness, foraging for natural foods, and migration. Unfortunately, many of these "survivors" quickly become part of the food chain.

Guidelines and recommendations:

Kit Chubb of the Avian Care and Research Foundation in Ontario, Canada, has compiled an excellent set of guidelines for dealing with wildlife during the breeding season. We are reprinting here with her permission:

1. Found an active nest? Watch with binoculars from a distance. The smell of your feet on the ground, and hands on the branches or nest, are neon signs for hungry nocturnal mammals to follow and investigate.

2. Federal and state law protects nests, eggs and babies. Do not disturb them. Taking wildlife into captivity is unlawful - you can be fined. Be sure the children know this.

3. Broken or fallen nest? Quickly put up a substitute nest nearby in some shade. Use Easter-egg baskets, small cartons, strawberry boxes - just as long as rain can drain. Robin nests are mud-based and can often be "mudded" back together. Line with dry material, not green grass.

4. Nest boxes need either a cylindrical tunnel over the entrance to prevent a cat or raccoon poking its paw deep inside, or a metal shield below to stop a predator climbing up.

5. Wildlife parents don't abandon. It is people who misread situations. Example: many birds do not start to incubate until all the clutch is laid, which may take up to two weeks.

6. Found an egg? It was discarded or put there for a reason, or it may even belong there. Leave it untouched. NEVER NEVER try to incubate it! Only the parents can do that. Example: Killdeer often have to leave their ground clutch because of children, foot traffic, dogs and cats. Just leave the eggs for the hungry. The female will promptly re-lay elsewhere.

7. Leave babies alone. The parents will come to the call of the hungry when you are gone. Just watch. Babies are fed most often early mornings, and also when they are small. Parental time away varies with luck finding food, self-feeding, bathing, level of hunger, time of day and interruptions.

8. "The mother has disappeared". Very rare. Usually it is the result of inexpert observation. Stuffing insects into a gaping mouth is done in seconds and coming and going is rapid and very discreet. If she is truly dead, don't forget that most males share the baby-care and can usually cope. Sometimes unknown to you there are even other bird "helpers".

9. Enjoy by watching. 1) Use bird books and binoculars to learn their biology. 2) Trust the parents to do the best. Unless you're a bird, it has to be better than you can do!

10. Remember cats belong INDOORS and birds belong OUTDOORS.

Still feel you have to help? There are things you can do to make your yard more bird-friendly.

1. Plant native bushes like some of the dogwoods, viburnums, junipers, or hawthornes. These are fruit-bearing bushes that help provide food for birds, expecially during the winter.

2. Provide water in the form of garden ponds or birdbaths. Either one is a magnet for drawing birds to your yard. Garden ponds have the added benefit of providing habitat for other aquatic critters like frogs or turtles. Remember that water is critical in the winter too.

3. Provide shelter in the form of bushes and shrubs. Evergreens provide year-round protection from predators and the elements. And put up next boxes for cavity-dwelling firds like bluebirds and chickadees.

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