About Native Bird Care is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Our staff is 100% volunteer and we rely entirely on donations from the public to operate. We receive no government funding. Please help us save birds by making a donation today!
Contact: Bird emergencies - TEXT a picture and describe what happened to 541-728-8208
Baby birds - see Found a Bird page for specific instructions. Email - non-emergency only, lovenativebirds@gmail.com. Please know we leave our phone ringer off for the comfort of our birds. Please be patient, we respond from 9 am - 9 pm, everyday, including holidays. We will call or text you back.
Note: our time is limited. Please be brief.
Our Mission: Native Bird Care offers specialized rescue, care, and rehabilitation for shore, water, and songbirds. We use the highest quality protocols and standards to care for our birds and offer them the chance for long, successful lives.
About Our Staff Native Bird Care is an entirely volunteer run organization. It is directed by Elise Wolf, who is also the wildlife rehabilitator with permits from USFWS and OR Department of Fish and Wildlife. Elise began her interest in advocating for nature and wildlife over 30 years ago. Twelve years ago she started her path of avian rehabilitation under the tutelage of another USFWS permitted rehabber. Her training includes hands-on training with some of the top rehabilitators in the country, along with multiple conferences and specialized study. Elise writes a monthly column for the Nugget Newspaper in Sisters, Oregon, and writes lengthy posts on the Native Bird Care blog and Facebook page.
What is Avian or Wildlife Rehabilitation? Avian rehabilitation includes medical treatment of injuries, resolving animal issues or problems (like poor waterproofing or contamination), and young or baby animal care and raising. Quality of care, more than anything, relies on the skill, knowledge, and abilities of the care provider. In wildlife rehabilitation the key care provider is the wildlife rehabilitator. This professional must have extensive knowledge about how to treat or care for specific types of patient issues. The rehabber must also be knowledgeable in the many species that come in, as each has specific care and treatment needs.
Becoming a wildlife rehabilitator is challenging as it is not a profession taught in traditional college education. Rather it is learned through training directly under another trained rehabilitation professional, and should include extensive research and learning about the species cared for. Here at Native Bird Care we regularly get over 30 different bird species (from loons to snipe to goldfinch), but there are over 320 different types of birds that live or fly through Central Oregon.
Helping People: A Big Part of What We Do Rescuing birds also means helping people, and Native Bird Care considers that part of our mission. Native Bird Care offers Central Oregonians not only a place to bring their rescued friend, but also solutions for issues that arise when we live in close proximity to nature. Whether its swallows making nest on a house, sickly birds at the feeder, woodpeckers drilling on the siding, or an ill-placed nest, we try to help people as much as birds.
Our Patients Our most common patients are songbirds. Most of these species are smaller, highly stressed, and challenging to work with. We also get some shorebirds and water-associated birds like loons, herons, and ducks. We do not care for raptors (hawks, eagles, owls) because these predatory birds cause serious stress to our smaller song, shore, and water birds, which in the wild are dinner for the raptors. Regardless of species, Native Bird Care's primary goal is rescue and care of our wonderful flighted neighbors on this big planetary sphere we call "Earth."