A Great Blue Heron got a second chance last week. The release and his spectacular flight off was covered on KTVZ News, Bend, Oregon. 

Link to KTVZ spot on release & interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jlI0Wn0m3g

Great Blues are our largest heron in North America. They are primarily fish eaters, but will eat just about any animal they can get down their throats - this includes even some birds. In winter, when the lakes and rivers freeze over, they turn to mice and other small animals. You may find one hunting in an open field trying to fill his belly. Young ones, like this bird, can have a difficult time getting enough food when winter really sets in; they must learn to hunt well out of the water and catching mice is definitely a learned skill. 

This young, first-winter bird was found by a concerned person unable to fly well and huddled against a building. Our volunteer Bud went out and helped capture the bird, a delicate and challenging task given these birds can often still fly a bit. The fact that they have a 5-6 foot wingspan and weight so little means they are can fly until they are very near skin and bones. This results in them only being able to be captured when they are right at death's door, as this young one was. 

At half his normal weight (2.75 lbs vs 5.5), the initial days of his treatment and care were challenging. He was emaciated due to him starving for several weeks. As starvation sets in the body turns to its own muscle mass for nutrition. In addition, the organs and intestinal tract can atrophy. This makes getting their bodies going again and digesting and absorbing food a real challenge for us who care for them. It is a slow, delicate process. There is a certain and very specific process we must go through to get a starving bird able to fully eat again. If we fail to follow this process, for example just start giving the bird fish, we can kill them. Patience and knowledge about the birds and this particular form of care is critical. ​

​

Video of Great Blue eating: https://www.facebook.com/elise.wolf.3/videos/372579197960926

Eventually, Great Blue started seriously eating his fish, and leaving us lots of evidence of successful digestion (poops!) in his enclosure (a large 6'x6' padded pen with a large pan of water, which he waded and played with his fish in. LOL). Finally, he got moved out to a large aviary that was set up specifically for a heron, perching logs and large shallow pans of water for wading. ​

Great Blue Heron Factoids:

• Largest North American heron.
• Not a crane! A heron, there is a difference.
• Live near water - rivers, estuaries, lakes - with fish.
• Can eat surprisingly large fish, small animals, and even birds. 
• Nest in large colonies. 
• Eat mice and whatever small animal they can catch when rivers, lakes freeze. 
• Are stealth hunters - standing super still, slowly moving, waiting for prey.
• Use their middle toe with a special hook to groom. The feathers in the front ("plumes") flake into a downy powder by them using this toe, they then spread that amongst the feathers to clean them from fish oils and debris. 
• Stand 3.5-4' tall, weigh about 5 lbs, wingspan 4-5'.
• Males and females look alike; males larger, with larger bill.

Please be cautious about what you put out for birds. There are a lot of home-made suet recipes that are simply dangerous for birds, even deadly. 

The fact is fats can get on birds' feathers and harm their ability to stay dry and warm. This lack of weatherproofing and impairment in insulation is deadly in the winter, but also the summer. The most dangerous fats for birds are the soft fats, those that are easily spread. Birds get fats on them by landing directly on a suet ball or feeder and getting the fats onto their feet. The fat is then spread as birds use their feet to preen their heads and for scratching themselves. Fats also spread by a bird having residue on their bill and then preening. 

The softer the fat, the more fat gets spread. The more hard, dry, and crumbly the fat, the more fat falls off and less get stuck in birds' bills and feet. 

Greasy birds are dead birds. Oils on feathers impair weatherproofing by interrupting the feathers' structural function. A birds' feathers are like a wet-suit; create a 'hole' in that suit and you get water or cold air access causing the bird to become cold (called 'hypothermia'). Hypothermia kills birds, and often in far less time than one can imagine. 

Hypothermia can be quick or slow. A bird without sufficient insulation and waterproofing, will spend hours trying to correct the feathers (preening), rather than eating. This results in starvation. A larger bird can live awhile just maintaining as a cold bird who has to eat more, preen more, and spend time shivering more (their way of creating heat). But, ultimately, a stressed life like this would not be long. 

Getting fats off is impossible for birds. 
Fats and oils on feathers are difficult to remove and cannot be done by a bird. Avian rehabilitators use a high solvent soap to remove some fats from feathers. True suet, which is what I advise to feed, is actually hard to remove (thus why a caged feeder is imperative). Rehabilitators can get fats off birds, but rarely do we get a chance since dirty birds retreat to a safe tree and perish there.  

The solution = use safe fats in the suets you feed and always feed suet inside a suet feeder that prevents direct access to the suet or accidental spreading (suggestions below).

About Fats
Melt points matter! A soft fat that easily melts has a higher tendency to spread. If a bird accidently brushes this fat, it will more easily get onto the bird. If they land on it, it will more easily get on their feet. Hard fat, like suet, is far less likely to get on the bird. 

Most fats, except true suet and peanut butter, have low melt points - vegetable oils, subcutaneous animal fats, bacon drippings, and many fats misnamed as 'lard' or even 'suet' melt at low temps. Making soft fats hard with ingredients (that birds don't really need like flour and corn) is not a solution; the fat used is still soft. If you can squeeze a suet and leave an imprint with your fingers - you have fat that is too soft. Note that there are cheap suets out there that are like this. 

All Beef and Pork FAT is not suet! The name 'suet' is getting applied to any kind of animal fat. This is particularly dangerous, and frankly not true. There are various kinds of fats from animals. True suet is the fat around the loin of a cow. It is very  dry and hard, thus it crumbles when you handle it. Bacon grease, drippings from beef cooking, fats off steaks or from under the skin, or what is left-over from cooking is not suet - not even close. These fats must have dry ingredients added to them to make them hold together as a 'cake.' True suet, is the safest fat for birds. 

True Suet: Melt-point of 95 degrees, or higher. A hard, crumbly, dry fat. Yes, it is hard to work with if you make your own suet. However, it is better for the birds. Suet packs a serious energy punch. They do not need to eat very much to gain the fat they desperately need for their reserves and energy needs. This leaves more room for their main dietary foods (seeds or insects). Birds must get as much nutrition out of a food source as they possibly can. Poor food options require more work, less time resting, more stress, and nutritional deficiencies. 

Vegetable oils: Almost all vegetable oils have melting points of 75-77 degrees. This is way too low for a "suet" cake. These fats melt and spread easier, making them a risky option. Low melt points mean that they should not be fed at temps higher than 70. For a 'suet' cake, one must add some form of flour to hold the cake together, usually wheat, corn, sometimes oatmeal. The mix can be as high as 6 cups of flour to a mere 1 cup of fat!!! The bird must eat way more of this concoction to gain the fat benefits than they would a small suet cake (why a true suet cake will last days, and one of these possibly just hours).

Please know that corn and wheat, or even oatmeal, have no where near the nutritional composition and quality of the birds' natural or even feeder seeds/foods. For insectivores, filling their bellies with high-glycemic flours instead of nutritionally sound insects results in a nutritional deficit - NOT a gain. This is true for seed-eaters as well. A sunflower seed (one of the most beneficial seeds we feed)  is a nutritional powerhouse. A bird taking up precious food space in it belly to eat this low-quality suet is at a disadvantage over the long haul. 

Are these cakes cheap - yes. And thus the appeal. However, we must ask, are we merely inviting the birds in to entertain us, or are we attempting to offer them a true nutritional advantage? This is an ethical question we all must ask.  

Peanut butter - Melting point is high, 104, which is the highest. This makes PB one of the safest fats in terms of feather-risk. Suet and PB mixed are an excellent suet cake option (often called "no-melt"); the PB will make the suet easier to mix. Just make sure that the PB has NO ADDED OILS - no other vegetable oils and no sugars. The best kind is fresh ground. (Note: PB can have aflatoxins. Always use pre-made PB or if you use fresh ground, inspect for quality controls. Whole peanuts tend to have more risk of aflatoxin than does PB. 

Is Your "Suet" Cake Safe?: You can do a quick pinch test to determine how soft your fats (suet fats, lol) really is. Pinch the suet cake between two fingers. Does it squish? Toss it and go for a no melt beef suet that has no or little other oils in it. Note: many commercial more inexpensive suets are like this. They are not using full on suet, but likely a mix of fats. You'll also know if when you handle the suet, your hands are super greasy (hard to get off, right?). If your suet crumbles and is nearly dry - it's real suet. 

Feeders
Cages only please. Never feed suet in a way that allows the bird to land on the fats. They will preen these fats right into their feathers.

• Log feeders work if they have a perch only - so drill a hole and put in a chopstick or small dowel.
  
• Squirrel-proof suet feeders that have a cage within a cage, so the suet is inside are my favorite. The little birds just hop inside and peck away, and the bigger birds, like the woodpeckers, hang upside down. 
• Simple cage feeders - good too, as long as you clean them with hot water once a week. In winter, I use these for the songs and woodies that cannot get into the squirrel-proof feeder. 
• NEVER EVER EVER SPREAD FATS OR OILS ON TREEs!!! I cannot express how dangerous this is for birds. And you will NEVER notice their demise. What I am saying here is common sense and not that hard to reflect on why this is bad. 
• Keep feeders clean by washing in very hot water and soap like Dawn, regularly. 
• NO wreaths, no pine cones, no balls, no no no on anything that allows the bird to land on the fat. (Use gelatin to make some fun wreaths, balls, etc!)

How & When to Feed

• Fall, winter, spring are main suet feeding times.
  
• Late summer too before fall migration.
  
• Never over 80 degrees.
  
• Do not place suet directly in the sun unless it is cold outside. Then watch for melt, as even winter sun gets hot.
  
• Partial sun is better than direct.,
  
• Suet, like all fat, can go rancid. If no one is eating it, then toss after a week. If it is winter this can go longer. Place in garbage, do not leave fats out in the yard.
  
• IF no one is eating it, reconsider your recipe.  

Recipe
Recipe for Favorite suet: Mix peanut butter and suet half and half, you can add some quick oat flour if you really want to, but not much. You can add seeds, nuts, and fruit. I am happy to get tips on this recipe! PM me. 

PS: Gelatin: Yes, this is safe for birds in limited amounts. Use this to make a seed-heavy woodpecker block. The goal is to have just enough gelatin to hold it together, not be the focus of the food (not that they would eat it anyway). This is a fun crafters project!!!

Have fun feeding - do it FOR the birds.
Picture is from my friend Jane Tibbetts, songbird photographer extraordinaire! She's made a safe, very neat log feeder for the suet. Thanks Jane!​

Follow these handy tips for dealing with sick or dead birds at the feeder. 

Sick birds are still showing up at feeders all across the country. Mainly these are Pine Siskins ill with Salmonella, a bacterial infection. 

Salmonella can be passed to baby birds from their parents. The species most vulnerable are the smaller finches, like pine siskin and goldfinch, but red crossbills and other birds can also get this disease. 

Salmonella spread is stopped through disinfecting or removing feeders, and using feeders that are less likely to spread disease. Note that contamination happens as soon as a sick bird lands on a feeder.

Basics and Instructions for Cleaning, Feeder Suggestions:

*1) If you have a sick bird - remove the feeders for a week or two. Take found sick birds to a rescue. 

*2) If you have had sick birds, switch to feeders less likely to spread disease - mesh hanging types or hoppers with very narrow feeding trough. Remove feeders that allow a bird to poop into the food! Isolate species by feeding foods specific for the species, see below. 

*Continue feeding ONLY if you are able/willing to keep the feeders cleaned and disinfected, and able to do this frequently. Fecal matter and saliva are how this disease is spread. Salmonella survives freezing, and hot temps, and lasts a long time in the environment. Bleach is necessary (not vinegar!). Instructions below. 

*If you are seeing more than one or two sick birds, please change your feeders as they are likely spreading disease. See below. 

Please explore the instructions below. 

​Signs of Salmonella: Symptoms: Main sign is a bird sitting listless and not moving. Salmonella causes lesions and inflammation through the digestive track and esophagus.

It enters the bloodstream and then organs and brain. Once in the brain it causes mental issues, which is why sick birds act "tame" and they do not fly away. Birds ultimately die from either starvation, since salmonella lesions impair digestion, or organ failure. 

1. Sick birds act lethargic (tired)
2. Will sit a lot either at the feeder or on the ground.
3. They are often fluffed up. 
4. Will act tame or tolerant of your approach.
5. Eyes may be partially or fully closed, may have some redness.
6. May be drooling or have signs of vomit.
7. Might have head tucked under wing in broad daylight. 
8. Easily confused with a bird in shock from hitting a window.

What do we do if we find a sick or dead bird?

• Dead birds: use gloves to handle either sick or dead birds.
• Do not bury or leave dead birds out.
• Burying spreads the disease into the soil.
• Put dead birds into a plastic bag and dispose into trash.

Living, but sick birds:

• Take a hand towel and pick up the bird.
• You can also use a butterfly net.
• Use gloves or a towel.
• Place into a small box or paper bag, on paper towels.
• Never leave sick birds in your yard, they are suffering, and spreading the disease.
• Find a local songbird rehabilitator or call your local Fish and Wildlife agency. 

Can humans or pets get Salmonella? 
Yes, but it is not likely. The amounts in bird feces are tiny, and we are large. Cats that eat birds can and do get it. But if you have outside cats, you shouldn't be feeding birds. 

Chickens carry their own particular subspecies of Salmonella. It too can be spread to wild birds. In fact, agricultural animal waste is one source of Salmonella infection for wild birds, particularly those associated with those animals (starlings and house sparrows). 

Please use common sense when handling sick or dead birds, and when cleaning your feeders and baths. Gloves are mandatory.

If you would like citations for the research mentioned, email us at lovenativebirds@gmail.com

Well here we are moving into the colder, darker months after coming through such an intense year. We thought we'd share a few happy stories of some of our extraordinary patients that wound up needing help. 

It was the busiest year Native Bird Care has seen. My first baby songbird came in April 1st, two months earlier than any other season in my 11 years. By mid-May I was already ordering 35,000 insects a week; July is usually when our insect demand is that high. All those babies were for the most part singletons, individuals rather than full nests. In fact, I rarely get a full nest, it is mostly single babies who have wound up alone, injured, and needing help. So, like all baby seasons, I worked a 96 hour work week, it just started way early and did not stop for nearly 5 months. And this year, due to Covid, we could not have volunteers. 

This fall, it has slowed quite a bit but I still have a steady stream of patients needing care. I hate to play favorites since frankly every one of these birds is an amazing, brilliant gem. I love every one of them, even the most irascible, stressy grouch. In fact, it is pure maternal instinct that powers my ability to get up at 6 am every morning to start putting food into mouths and cleaning up poopy enclosures. The bright spot in avian rescue is the babies, little souls with a desperate eagerness to be a graceful, elegant star, traversing the air or cruising the earth.

Here are a few of the stars we had this last year. Enjoy them, fawn over their beauty, relish them as if they are the last one of their species. As we lose bird populations, it is so important to value and cherish every single one of them. 

Few birds can match the mesmerizing calls of the Hermit Thrush. The sound from this small 25 gram bird erupts as ethereal waves, flowing from the forest edges. Is that one? Two? The call has a ventriloquist aspect, confusing the human listener, making us wander hopelessly in search of the source of that siren song. To no avail. 

We've had several Hermits this fall, two were simply too weak to fly, another hit a window, which is quite odd as these are migrants that do not seek bird feeders. Starvation is a real issue birds must face, particularly in this day and age. Finding insects is tough work, requiring a never ending hunt for food most of the day. In care here, we get them past the critical care stage that results from emaciation and then load them up on as many insects as they can gobble down. All our Hermit Thrushes were able to be released amazingly, even the window harmed one. 

Cedar Waxwings are one of my favorite babies to raise. This one dropped out of a tree onto someone's patio. We tried for 3 days to find the parents and the nest with no luck. I concluded that this one was a runt, and just was not able to hang on in the nest. She had mites as well and was skinny. 

She ate like a champ though, enjoying fresh berries and insects. Waxwings, like most baby songbirds, are fed small larvae, caterpillars, and other insects. Mainly soft-bodied bugs that are easy to digest. In care, we avoid mealworms with waxwings and feed mainly crickets and some waxworms. These birds grow up to eat berries however, so we dutifully chop of fresh blue and blackberries, and other fruits. 
She joined a small flock of other Cedar Waxwings in Camp Polk Meadow. 

In July, we had the rare opportunity to help a baby Pied Billed Grebe. All grebe species are 100% waterbirds, meaning that they live full time on the water - eating, swimming, sleeping, and nesting in reeds at lake edges. 

Sadly, people can easily disturb families like this when they paddle into the vegetated areas at the edges of lakes and rivers. And that's what happened to this little one. Luckily the person found the soaked baby and got her to us for warming, drying, and some food. Over the next week we searched the lake, found a parent, and were able to reunite the one. Her sibling sadly died from the ordeal of being in the water too long. Baby down is not waterproof for long, which is why you see them crawl up on their parents' backs and snuggle in for a ride. Lesson: don't paddle into reeds and marsh.

As happens every year, some crew of Northern Flicker babies find themselves homeless as people remove trees, or exclude them from hole in a house. We renest a lot of these guys over the summer, providing flicker boxes to home owners and moving the babes to the box and out of the home. 

This works incredibly well, and provides a long-term solution for the home owner looking for a way to keep them outside, not in. Get the ant-eating benefit the Flicker provides, while preventing damage. 
Win-win! Flickers are a blast to raise. Don't get me wrong, they are a ton of work, but these babies are just so full of attitude and personality. Their tongues and foraging techniques are so very neat. If you go to the videos on the Native Bird Care of Sisters Facebook page, you will see one of our young birds from last year show off her phenomenal tongue eating worms in a tree.

We had so many species this year - our fun and common Robins and Goldfinches, Townsend Solitaires, Red Breasted Sapsucker, Black Headed and Evening Grosbeak, House Finches, Red Crossbill, Common Poorwill and Nighthawks, Ash Throated Flycatcher, Hairy Woodpecker, Hummingbirds, Quail, Chickadees, Pine Siskin, Spotted Towhee, and then Spotted Sandpiper, Great Blue Heron, and waterbirds like Lesser Scaup and Canada Geese. And that is not all, here are a few more. I could chat about all of them all day. 

I hope you have enjoyed this look at our birds. Please make a donation this holiday season. Without public support we simply could not keep doing what we do to save birds. Our food bill alone is $5000 a year. Medications, medical treatment and supplies, everything that goes into enclosures and housing, utility bills, and so much more costs a lot. We have no paid staff, so 100% of your money goes directly to the birds that make their way here. 

​Please donate! 

Join Native Bird Care in a global project seeking to solve bird-window collisions!

How to Participate: It's easy! You can join in by looking for birds that have been hurt and/or putting up window solutions.

• Help us find injured birds, document them, and get them to rescue.
  Simply take an early morning walk around your neighborhood or nearby commercial center. Rescue or collect birds, text us, post your findings on the Global Bird Rescue website. 
• Solve problem windows that harm birds.
  This is a great opportunity to fix up those windows you've been meaning to find a solution for! Share your accomplishments with the world by sharing your pictures on the Global Bird Rescue site. 
  
  

How to Sign Up: Each participant must sign up individually. Go here to sign up: Global Bird Rescue. Please put our team name in!  

Team Name: Native Bird Care has signed us up as a team. Please put our team name in when you sign up: Native Bird Care of Central Oregon.

Instructions for What Exactly to Do: Please download the Global Bird Rescue Manual and Tutorials on the Global Bird Rescue site. There are specific instructions on what to do if you find a bird, how to rescue one, and so forth. 

Dead or Injured Birds: We will be collecting all dead or injured birds. Please text us when to make arrangements re transport. 

Downtown Bend Volunteers: If there are any folks who could possibly do a very early morning search in downtown Bend on some of the larger buildings with a lot of glass, that would be great. 

Windows Solutions: simply go to here for great ideas on what you can do for those problem windows. Our site has more homemade options, but also most of the solutions listed on ABC: Native Bird Care Windows Solutions and American Bird Conservancy. Be sure to share your accomplishment and ideas with us and on the Global Bird Rescue website! 

Goal: Get outside! Share the project with young people! Learn about birds! And help to SAVE BIRDS! :)

Go to Links:
Global Bird Rescue Website

Oregon is experiencing the most tragic and severe wildfire event ever recorded in this state. There is significant suffering going on - human, wildlife, and plants. We wish everyone safety and well-being. If you can donate to those organizations that are helping people and domestic pets, and also wildlife, please do. There will be a lot of homeless people and pets at the end of this. We will also have devastating losses of wildlife and their habitats. Yes, it will recover. It may take a long time though for  some species to regain numbers. These fires are not friendly cleaners, they are too intense for that. 

I've been asked how birds handle fire. I am no expert, but here's what I do know. Generally some birds will fly away, escaping the coming inferno. In massive fires like this one, some may not make wise choices in the directions they choose and suffer. Some may not realize the epic nature of the fires coming and choose to hunker down, staying in place to ride it out (like some people try to do). As birds move around they are often forced into new habitats where food resources may not be ideal or they are unfamiliar with. Fires may encourage migration as well for those species heading south. 

Birds traveling through in migration will hopefully simply fly on past, however, with much of the Cascades on fire, we can only hope they have the reserves and physical capacity to keep going. They will face more challenges as they hit the fires raging throughout California. I look forward to seeing some research on the movement patterns of birds experiencing fire. 

I do know that a lot of animals are dying right now. That is a given. I am not getting many as most birds will perish without anyone seeing them, as we are all stuck in our homes. I hope that anyone who finds a suffering bird will text us and give the bird a chance. We do not have the fire staff on these mega infernos for anyone to rescue animals while out on the front-lines. I am sure they wish they could.

How Does Smoke Affect Birds?
Birds lungs are incredibly complex and extraordinary. In fact, the incredible physical accomplishments of birds - flight, long distance trips, and endurance - are in large part due birds' breathing anatomy.

​Birds do not have just two lungs like us mere land-walkers. They have up to 9 "air sacs" - balloon-like structures that allow lightness and enormous breathing capacity. Each breath of a bird passes through all of these sacs and the lungs before being exhaled. 

The entrance to birds' airways is located at the bottom of the mouth, not the back of the throat like mammals. It is called the "glottis." This odd location allows more efficient and immediate air intake, which aids in the aerial feats birds engage in. (The location of the glottis and the risk of aspiration is a main reason feeding baby birds is actually a developed skill. It's super easy to get food or water into their airways, and birds cannot cough to force anything out because of how distributed the air becomes once in the body. In some birds, like the Common Poorwill, the glottis is darn near the front of the mouth, with the tongue very tiny and seemingly vestigial.  

This anatomy translates into a rather complex breathing operation. Note in the picture below, the air comes into the body, passes through the trachea, goes into the posterior air sacs and the lungs. The air in the posterior air sacs goes on into the lungs and back out. The air that goes into the lungs passes through the anterior air sacs before exiting the body. 

What this anatomy results in for birds' airways is that what goes in, stays in. So the micro to larger particulates of smoke, wind up going into birds' air sacs and lungs and not leaving. Just like us, these particulates can cause inflammation and impair intake of oxygen. The health effects of smoke are the same as for humans, except they are magnified by the fact that birds are more efficient breathers and retain more particulates. 

In sum, smoke inhalation can and does kill birds. It impairs their ability to breathe and that impairs their ability to forage and sustain themselves. Birds will often sit is stasis. They may go to the ground as the air can be clearer there. Birds will often head into the canopy where they are a bit protected from larger particles and predators. 

Smoke also dirties birds' feathering, which can lead to birds ingesting this pollution as they preen. Keeping clean is imperative for birds ability to stay weatherproof, so they will try to seek out water. The chemicals and pollutants in the smoke is not good for them, so the cleaner they can stay by bathing, the better. 

So what can we do to help? 
Keeping clean, fed, and having access to water is critical for all the birds suffering right now. So, if you want to help your yard birds, please consider turning on sprinklers for an hour or so a day. Please wear a mask as you go outside to protect your lungs. Keep all feeders full, and clean the water baths and features as much as possible. You can also add additional trays of water, placed around the yard. 

Most birds we will not be able to help as they are simply not yard birds. However, if we are backed to open space or forests, we can help these birds by aiming sprinklers out where a few might get some benefit. Migrants who are desperate for food or water can benefit too from us putting water out.

Putting food on the ground like millet will help the ground feeders and those that will eat millet like the finches. Keeping feeders full is important. And keeping bird baths clean! With so many birds taking baths and with the particle buildup, we want to keep the baths clean. 

Why do some act like nothing is happening? Still going about their day. Well they simply have no choice. Little birds in particular must eat much of the day, every day just to survive. As smoke impacts them, they can succumb from lack of oxygen and lack of food if they cannot eat. Birds waiting it out may go without food, leading to starvation. We can do almost nothing for the birds that do not come to the feeder. 

Note, putting water pans out helps other animals too, if you happen to be able to put out large pans for the deer and others, I advocate that. Smoke dehydrates everyone...no you should not feed the deer, their food is still there. But adding more water to your landscape cannot hurt. Yes, we are in a drought and water conservation is important. So please, do always conserve water as a general rule. 

If you see distressed birds hunkering down, rescue them. Put them in a box and text us. Please keep kitties inside right now, for their health and for the birds that are coming to the ground where the air is cleanest.

For yourselves, tape shut any vents, hang blankets over doors, avoid going in and out, get an air cleaner going, and try to close up leaks.
​
We wish everyone the best...please pray or say blessings for rain....

 
This article was just published in East Cascades Audubon, Spring Calliope Newsletter.

This is part one of a three part series on Spring birds, boxes, and babies. Questions? Facebook us! 
​
Bangers, Boxes, & Babies:
Spring Tips for Woodpeckers
By Elise Wolf, Native Bird Care, avian rescue
 
I always get asked what to do about Northern Flickers, or other head-bangers that visit our homes each spring announcing their presence with a tap tap tap or a loud machine gun dddddddd. My answer is always to joke and say – get up at 5 am. It brings a laugh, and some groans. But, in all seriousness, adaptation is one of the best solutions to this issue. When viewed as a puzzle, not a problem, bird’s relationships with us, our homes, and the altered environment we have created for them can be seen with a more congenial attitude.
 
Flickers nest in dead or dying trees, providing homes for other cavity-nesting species – small owls, kestrels, ducks, small mammals, and other songbirds. They are considered a ‘keystone’ species, meaning that their presence is key to the success of other species. According to Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “The loss or diminution of the Northern Flicker would likely have a large impact on most woodland ecosystems in North America.”

For decades there was a bounty on snags in our surrounding forests (and porcupines as well, which help by making dead trees). Logging protocols have historically allowed or even required removal of dead or dying trees. We continue to see these antiquated and tragic policies played out today in forest plans and decisions. In addition to habitat loss and lack of snags, starling cavity theft, pesticides, and window strikes take a toll on these wonderful birds. Only 40% of Flickers survive the winter according to researchers. 

As predominately ant eaters, these birds have to work quite hard to find their foods. Last summer was noticeably short of insects, and that reality showed in our rescue as babies and adults came in low in weight and even emaciated. So, be thrilled that you have someone able and willing to take out carpenter ants on your property (wish they ate piss-ants, but can’t have it all). We can buy new trim; can’t buy Flickers. 

Have I pulled at your heart-strings enough now? So what can you do regarding not just flickers, but all our little bangers? ​

Tip #2: Give them a house!
Ok, not yours perhaps (he he), but one of their own. If Pa Flicker has decided to make a cavity in the wall of your garage or home, then give them an alternate. Flickers will use a bird box…if they want to. They physiologically and mentally need to excavate the cavity. So, pack the nest full of wood chips. Use aspen wood chips from a pet store (not mulch – splinters; not cedar – toxic; not pine – sappy). ​​

Absolutely and always put grooves up all four sides of the inside of the box. Chose a box that opens (which you should do anyway). Remove the side opposite the opening. Use tool of choice to make 1/8th inch grooves. For Flickers, these grooves should be ½ inch apart, bottom to top of box. Flickers begin to perch on the sides of their cavities at about 17 days. Being gregarious, flicker babies need space, so make sure they have use of the entire inside of the box. 

Place box a metal post, like you would a swallow or bluebird box, at 8’-12’ high. This prevents predators being able to climb up and get into the box. Place 10’ from nearest tree, in the shade, facing South or Southeast. Proper siting and location is paramount. Chose the most private, least stressful place to site your planet-mate’s new house. Base decisions on June activity levels and locations, not April’s. Ideally, not above a door, or social gathering areas. Younger birds may not have the experience to know they are making a housing faux pau until it’s too late (one way I get baby birds). Placing the box on the house might work best if you have a small yard and this is the safest, private place for your bird family. Or, if you want to exclude a current Flicker’s hole-building project on your own house, try putting up a box over that hole.

Flickers will tolerate activity and humans till fledgling stage (this is true of most our of urban nesting birds). However, all birds get stressed and once the fledglings are able to flap even a bit, they can get spooked from their nests/cavities before they are ready. Also, birds are territorial, not just among their own species, but sometimes with other species as well (like bluebirds attacking swallows; easily solved by doing back to back boxes). So, if this bird made an awful real estate decision, relocate by exclusion (see www.nativebirdcare.org for a long list of options) and put up the pole box if you want the birds. 

House on a house placement, by the way, is excellent for your smaller tap-tappers, nuthatches and chickadees. These birds will readily take over a box, and you can often simply place a box right over the hole they have embarked on creating. Simply fill hole with a sealant, and place box over it. Put an inch of the aspen bark in the box. Placement and location are same as Flickers. Grooves are far more, spaced closer together, like 1/8th to 1/4th inch apart, just on the front of the box, below the hole. But, put them all the way across so babies can get alongside and push dominant and bigger babies away from the hole. Too few places to hang can lead to the largest baby dominating the hole and the others starving. (Never put perches on bird boxes, unless you want to feed our corvids). 
​

Did you know some precocial birds are fed by their parents? Loons, shorebirds, coots for example. Only 2 truly precocial birds exist, and they are not in North America. Anyhoo...will continue this later...

This is a nestling Western Wood Pewee. She came in after her nest was blown down after a heavy wind. She was a hoot to finish raising. As an aerial insectivore and eating by catching her insect prey in flight with her feet, she took some extra care getting her ready for release. Babies like this need practice catching their food, so giving her flighted insects was necessary. We do that with bot fly larva and fruit flies (which we make ourselves by...you guessed it...lots of old fruit scraps. Basically we leave a bucket of rotting food out in the aviary with 1/4 inch screen on it so birds cannot get in, but bugs can get out. I would also toss crickets and mealworms in the air for her to catch...she was super adept early on and kept getting better. She learned way faster than her barn swallow buddy who would just look at me from his high perch and shun my attempts. He eventually got it though and both would swoop down to catch what I tossed up. Notably, she caught her bugs with her feet and the swallow caught his with his mouth - both variations on on-the-wing foraging by birds. This little Pewee was surely one of the sweetest birds we have had in care. She got released with a whole flock of other Pewees at Camp Polk Meadows. Birders helped us locate a flock, then we took her to them. She flew directly towards the flock and two came out to greet her. Absolutely perfect! 

American Coots are abundant, that's true, but it doesn't take away from them being a fascinating, beautiful, and unique bird. These cuties navigate inland waters year-round, and they fit in a similar niche as a small grebe (like a Horned or Eared). But they are actually part of the Rail family (along with Virginia Rail). Rather than skirt the shoreline like a Virginia though, these guys are eating small fish, crustaceans, bugs, invertebrates and vegetation along the shore while in the water. They are floaters, not walkers. Like the grebes, these birds cannot take off from the ground due to their feet and the size of their wings (which are small in relation  to their body size and weight, which is an advantage if you are a swimmer). So, these birds wind up stranded in poor winter weather (like loons, grebes, and ruddy ducks). 

This girl rebounded remarkably once we dewormed her, warmed her up, and got her fed and hydrated. In fact, she put on 200 grams in 9 days (its amazing how quickly they can respond once the problem is found!). Like other waterbirds that come through here, we made sure her feathers and waterproofing were in shape, and maintained, and she got a pool. Had we not already put our winter pools away (oops, who knew winter would be in March!), she would have had a bigger pool, but instead she had to do with our large indoor water set up, which is a whole lot more work for us as it has to be cleaned very frequently so she stayed clean. (Note - next year, leave winter pools up in aviary!) 

​Why the red eyes? Lots of waterbirds have red eyes as it helps them see underwater. Note the babies have brown eyes, red eyes happen as they reach adulthood. Their leg color also changes, from more green/olive to more and more yellow as they age.  And while Grebes and Loons have toenails, nothing compares to the talons on these guys. Just check out the first picture. In fact, these feisty birds will flip over on their backs like a raptor and try to slash you with those sharp, hooked nails (yes, we ALWAYS wear gloves with Coots, ha ha!). The boys are another 200 grams on the girls, so they can be a handful (2 handfulls, ha). The lobes on those pretty yellow-green feet are designed to propel them through the water, highly effective paddles, very cool. 

​We had the fun time of raising a baby coot last summer. So for fun I've added a parent and two babies. Notably, like most waterbirds, Coots also feed their babies bill to bill. So, even though they are born "precocial" (born with down, able to move away from nest soon), they cannot feed themselves. This is such a wonderful picture of their colorful, adorable babies. Coots may be one of the few birds that can make the global transition we are experiencing, because they are adaptable, can eat a diversity of food, and are productive. Go Coots!

They look larger than they really are, at only 2 or so ounces. They are tiny really. They live almost entirely on fruit in winter, and today they have moved towards more of our planted species, like the mountain ash. However, they get their name from the Cedar tree, which they ate the berries of historically. 

They are highly susceptible to the insecticides and other sprays with coat our trees and shrubs with. And being so little, it does not take much to make them sick. At least 2 of my intakes were sick from what I think was pesticide poisoning. One did not survive, the other I just released. If you love birds, please do not spray your trees with anything...not even "non-toxic" products like soap (soaps kills the waterproofing on birds and makes them sick too). 

These are not feeder birds, but if you want them in your yard plant serviceberry, mountain ash, cherry trees, crabapple, and raspberries - but be happy birds are eating all your fruit! Know that your fruiting trees are keeping these cuties alive. In rehab, they are eating soaked currents, pear, chopped raisens, raspberries, and blueberries, along with mealworms (at least they are offered). 

Unlike some birds in which we try to return them to their original location and group, with the Waxwings, we release them to larger flocks with abundant resources (if we can). Cedar Waxwings are flocking up at this time anyway and we like to give our rehabs a good chance. There is safety in numbers, and they have night-time buddies to stay warm with on freezing nights and experienced birds that can lead the way to food sources. 

Enjoy these special birds! Keep some small binocs in your car, and take that moment or two just to get close up look. However, never walk up to trees at night and try to get closer looks at birds resting for the night or even on really cold days. 

Once a bird flies, it loses all of its built up heat. Birds can die from having to lose this critical heat upon a flight made late in the day. For the tiny songbirds, they may not have the physical reserves to make more heat for their frigged night. 


Enjoy those Waxwings! See the fb post for video. 

Mountain Bluebirds must be one of the most beautiful songbirds that grace our skies here in Central Oregon. I was blessed this summer to be able to save 4 baby mountains who had sadly lost their parents somehow. The kind home owner who noticed this, intervened after a day and called us. The babies were a bit burdened by parasites and a bit thin, and of course quite hungry, but luckily nothing else was wrong. So, in they came. 

About Mountain Bluebirds
These beautiful birds are in the family as the American Robin - they are thrushes. And of all the thrushes they eat the most insects. This is why we do not see them at our feeders and instead out in wide open meadows and sometimes agricultural lands. They love caterpillars, but eat many flying insects as well. They also glean insects from trees like aphids which makes them good for the forest. 

You will see them perched on fences and on tree limbs on the edges of a forest meadow waiting to flit out from their perch, grab the bug, and land again. They can also hover and dive bomb. Ground insects are not safe either, these expert insectivores will spend some time on the ground hunting beetles and crickets. 

In Central Oregon we get to enjoy these sweet birds year-round, some winter here from northern climates, while others are local migrants moving from different areas for breeding or wintering habitat. 

Bluebird populations are stable, specially now with fires opening up more habitat. They expanded with logging at the turn of last century, then declined with the use of DDT and the overgrowth of our forests (from logging large trees and clearcutting). Now, they compete with House Wrens, House Sparrows, and Swallows. But swallows will happily nest in an adjacent box, so always post two boxes if trying to offer homes to bluebirds. Swallows are in decline, and they need the same size home. Mountain bluebirds are one bird that actually benefits from prescribed burns (unlike a lot of other birds that need shrub cover). 

Mountain bluebirds need wild, native grasses, so our agricultural lands don't really  help them like it does Robins. However, humans can assist these lovely important birds by keeping cats indoors and if offering nest boxes, making sure we do not feed raccoons and other bird predators. Putting a box on a metal conduit post is a great solution for preventing depredation. See the instructions for a great box for this bird at www.treeswallowproject.com. And be sure to post one for the swallow too!

Note: wish I was a skilled photographer, but my phone just doesn't do it. The adults in this post are all stock photos, only the babies are Native Bird Care. ​

Well, we thought she was a Hermit Thrush for a bit, but she does not have a white throat. She smaller than a robin, and makes the most beautiful trill call. Anyone want to gander at who she is? Post comments on fb too if you want. 

Everyone is in consensus! Townsend's Solitaire....just LOVE this little bird. I love all the birds I get (ok, maybe not a couple), but some like this really make this whole project worth it. Thrilled that I will be able to release this beauty right here on our property, and maybe, just maybe, she will stick around and find a mate.