Hospital story

I was driving a lessor road back to my hotel from work this afternoon. I noticed a small bird (looked like a woodpecker) at the side of the road struggling and I assumed he had been hit by a car. I went back to make sure he was ok. He couldn't fly, couldn't walk and his tongue was terribly distended. I gently scooped him up and back at my hotel went online to find help. Right here in Fairfield, CA is the 'International Bird Rescue Research Center', I called and was told to bring him in. By the time I got there, the little guy was showing signs of wanting to live. The Center welcomed the hurt bird (they told me he was an Acorn Woodpecker) and immediately put him in the ICU for observation and rehabilitation if possible. I was asked to sign a form explaining my observations and was allowed to make a donation if I so desired. I was very pleased that there was a place to take the bird with no problems whatsoever. I think he will live. I want no less for all the people in this country.



http://sanfrancisco.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=sanfrancisco&cdn=citiestowns&tm=15&gps=658_334_1916_875&f=21&tt=13&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.ibrrc.org/no_cal_center.html

:hug:

:hug:

works at a bird rescue center so I figured there must be one in this area of California. They do such great work. The Vermont Raptor Center is an awesome place to visit for anyone going through Vermont. As I held the little bird, I just knew he had to live... so scared at first.

http://www.vinsweb.org/raptor-center/index.html

Guess which story I liked better?

That was a great thing you did.

I live in Atlanta, and the less said about that nasty person the better.Poor Philadelphia.

handmade34,"ya done good!" Thank you for such a nice story.

You sound like my kind of person. :hug:

I hope he makes it.

I hope your world is full of such kindness shown to you as well.

:hug:

after dropping the bird off, I went to a grocery store to pick up a few things and as I was driving out of the lot I saw a middle aged man with a young girl(about 8). The man held a sign, "DESPERATE - anything would help!" Because of traffic, I couldn't get over to the side of the street to go talk to them and as I drove on I shook my head in amazment at the dichotomy that exists around us.

Wow. I was born in Fairfield, Ca and rescued lots of wild birds out there. We had countless baby mockingbirds, sparrows, etc that almost always had fallen out of trees. You did absolutely the right thing in this situation!

I've since moved on to Illinois, but we still have lots of wild birds here. We have some types not found in California (my favorite being the Cardinal), but we also have few to no hummingbirds here. I miss having three crowded hummingbird feeders like I had in California every single year. We do have lots of the same things though, such as sparrows, jays, woodpeckers, and red-winged blackbirds.


A friendly note to everyone: Please don't try rehabilitate wild birds on your own...unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing! Otherwise, please take them in to a rescue organization. Wild birds (especially babies) require very specialized feeding techniques and some species have different nutrition requirements than others (such as mockingbirds requiring more calcium).
If you feed a baby wild bird incorrectly, you can potentially cause it to drown, lower its body temperature too much, or cause internal burns (among other things).

...pleasant area, but Illinois is a world apart... I grew up in Michigan, left in my late 20's and lived in Vermont for 20 years. I am surprised that you don't have hummingbirds. My sister in MI said she had lots this year and I always had quite a few in VT. My favorite in Vermont (besides eagles) were the Pileated Woodpeckers; didn't see them much but always saw the signs of their work.

this is a picture I posted of the Napa area after a day at work last week