Native Bird Care & Rescue in Central Oregon
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About Birds

Mourning Doves in Love

1/19/2019

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Picture
Mourning doves are just so precious and gentle, and so pretty. The subtle coloring on them is really beautiful. The one in the back, a boy, came in late fall injured from a cat attack. All of his skin and feathers were torn off from the mid back down. It took a month of wound management to repair the damage. That sort of repair is always stressful just due to the potential infection. But, he pulled through just fine. His new skin is healthy and ready to grow feathers, so we are just waiting for him to finish that process. And he has to grow a tail. 

The gal next to him came in after hitting a window really hard. She had a fairly serious hematoma around her eye. Luckily all was fine once the swelling came down. I put her with the other guy so they could keep each other company. She runs over to him when the scary woman comes in. No, they do not get that I won't hurt them. Doves are very stressy birds. They will be released together, and perhaps we will have helped them find love together. 
I really adore these birds, but they are one type that are just frustrating in care. Their key defense is to blow out their feathers - and I mean a LOT. You will notice that neither has their tails. Earlier today the girl did, but she decided to let them all go when I went in to clean the cage. I have a protocol that works with this behavior, its called 'let them be.' They will both grow their tails back once in the aviary.

A little science: The right picture is an excellent example of what a "blood" feather looks like (the dark shaft at the bottom of the picture). This is what a feather looks like when it is just growing in. A feather grows out in a protective sheath that holds blood to grow the feather. The blood has all the nutrition for growth of the feather. A bird that breaks a feather low at this stage will bleed. Feathers are fragile at this point. Eventually, the full feather grows in and the blood section shrinks down to nothing. 


These two are doing great, and they will be released as soon as they both have all their feathers and tails back. 
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    Native Bird Care's is celebrating its 10th anniversary! Our main focus is song, shore, and waterbirds. We offer specialized care and facilities  for these extraordinary birds.. 

    Our mission is to provide a standard of care that offers the best chance for success and survival once our patients are released back to the wild. 

    We've gone through significant growth in the last 10 years. We started with a trailer, 2 aviaries, and small stock tank. Today, we have 5 aviaries from small to large and 4 filtered recirculating waterbird pools (one swan sized). In 2014, we built our large avian-care room (i.e. "Hopes" room) and an intake hospital room, with an indoor water set up. 

    Our patients are admittedly some of the more challenging of the birds to rehab. But, honestly, they all have unique needs. 

    We want to thank all those who have supported our work and helped our patients over the years. 

    ​Here's to the next 10! ​

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