Bird Cams Around the World

Good for your grandson! You might also tell him to never feed wildlife, including bread crumbs for ducks and other wild birds. They can't properly digest "people food."

Copy of letter I sent to Berkeley City Council and the Mayor:

Dear Mayor Bates, City Council Members,

The City of Berkeley has created a cruel and deadly hazard for federally protected migratory birds at the City Dump. Fishing line strung over the dump has entangled 15 – 20 birds a year. These birds are found dead or seriously injured, entangled in the line. The birds suffer painful, terrifying deaths. The line should be removed.

I work as a volunteer at International Bird Rescue Research Center in Fairfield, California. The Center was formerly located at Aquatic Park but moved into a larger building with more outdoor space in 2001.

On Monday I picked up a young Western Gull from the Animal Shelter. He had been caught in the fishing line strung over the dump and was found dangling by one wing.

This federally protected bird wears USFWS band #1136-01911. He had been with us last year, as a baby gull. We picked him up from Monterey SPCA on July 13, 2009. He weighed 465 grams. He did very well in our care, grew into a beautiful juvenile, passed his flight test, and weighed 1155 grams when we banded and released him on August 21, 2009, at the Berkeley Marina.

This young gull is bright, alert and has attitude! He bit three of us at IBRRC. That’s normal for wildlife: they are terrified of people, whom they see as predators. We care about him, and every effort will be made by our dedicated staff and volunteers at IBRRC to help him heal. Sadly, if he cannot fly again, he won’t be released, and he will be euthanized. The Department of Public Works, which ordered the fishing line and has refused to take it down, would be directly responsible for his death.

You can see this young gull in our Pelican Aviary here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-LvwqEccNg Observe that his left wing is damaged. Observe he's smart: when he can’t jump up to the side of the spa, he decides to take the stairs. He's probably in pain, but birds hide their pain so they won't look vulnerable to predators.

The animal control officers are also upset about the fishing line. They have cut down many birds, and it makes them very sad. The officers must be hoisted up on some kind of lift to reach the birds entangled in the fishing line. They are very caring and gentle, but it’s usually too late.

The Western Gull is a federally protected species, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The MBTA was born in an era when people adorned their hats with egret feathers and signed their letters with pelican-quill pens. This act assures the protection of a healthy environment for people, fish and wildlife, and helps Americans conserve and enjoy our living treasures. Berkeley has probably violated this act by creating and maintaining a hazardous condition with fishing line.

Berkeley is a city that loves its wildlife. South Park Drive in Tilden Regional Park is closed to autos November 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010, to protect migrating newts. Residents are not allowed to move wildlife (for example, squirrels and raccoons) from their habitat to other areas.

The Department of Public Works has been unresponsive to calls made by the Director of Animal Services. If money is the issue, surely it is costly to reinstall the fishing line each time an animal control officer has to cut it to free a bird. Fishing line is a dangerous hazard for birds, especially seabirds. Either they don't see it or they don't recognize it as a danger.

To keep our birds safe in our outdoor pools (and to keep other birds out), we use special netting. Berkeley should explore this option. It is a humane solution and probably more cost-efficient in the long run. A Council member or the Director of Public Works can call us for ideas. Our phone number is 707-207-0380. The hospital extension number is 110. If someone is not at the phone (we’re taking care of birds), please leave a message. Our Executive Director is Jay Holcombe.

I hope this problem can be quickly resolved before more birds are needlessly killed by the fishing line at the dump.

Sent by email, and I have heard back from one council member so far.

Our forum member Ploughboy posted this outstanding video in the Finland Osprey Migration topic, as part of his outstanding update on Jukka's migration.

I believe this video should be included in our WILDLIFE CONSERVATION & REHABILITATION Forum.
So here it is. Thank you Ploughboy!!!



JAZZEL

Beautiful.... thanks for sharing this with us.

Wow! I just watched "Born to Travel" (but I had to go directly to YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l9QzPdUK9o) to get it to play correctly on my computer). What a wonderful, outstanding video!

Thank you for these updates!

Video: Fishing Line Gull Released near Golden Gate Bridge

March 16, 2010: The juvenile Western Gull who was entangled on fishing line strung over a city dump has completely recovered after 3 weeks in rehab. Highly motivated to go back to the wild, he has been flying strongly in the Pelican Aviary. His farewell to staff at IBRRC was two bites! While you are watching this short video, know that he is flying free.

Two Brown Pelicans were also released.

IBRRC Executive Director Jay Holcomb and I met with a council member and dump (actually, a transfer station) staff on Friday, March 12. The solution to the fishing line problem is to hang long strands of reflective mylar from the lines. Birds will see those moving, flashing strands from a distance and keep away.

Two volunteers from IBRRC filmed the release and took the pictures. A group of school children was on hand to see the release.

For some reason, YouTube is changing public videos to private if users edit anything in their videos after they are uploaded. This means changes in the thumbnail, remarks, or tags. The original video of this gull in the Pelican Aviary was changed to private by YouTube, so I uploaded it again with no remarks. I think the staff at YouTube must be orbiting Pluto.

Here’s the other video, which I uploaded again, in case you missed it (the old hyperlink doesn't work because it's now a private video)

Looks like it went "public" again. Probably a coding mistake, it was fixed by YT after hundreds of people reported it

Video: Young Gull Hurt by Fishing Line at City Dump

March 2, 2010: On March 1 I picked up a young Western Gull from an Animal Shelter. He had been caught in fishing line strung over the city dump. The fishing line was put up to keep birds out of the dump. The gull was found dangling by one wing, and removed by an officer at the Animal Shelter. According to staff at the Shelter, each year about 15 - 20 birds get caught in fishing line at this dump, and few survive. It must be a terrifying, painful death.

The gulls Federal USFWS band, #1136-01911, allowed us to identify him. He had been with us last year, as a baby. We had picked him up from Monterey SPCA on July 13, 2009. when he weighed 465 grams. He did very well in our care, grew into a beautiful juvenile, passed his flight test, and weighed 1155 grams when we banded and released him on August 21, 2009 at the city Marina.

This young gull is bright, alert and has attitude! He bit three of us at International Bird Rescue Research Center. That's normal for a healthy gull: they do not like to be handled! We care about him, and every effort will be made by our dedicated staff and volunteers at IBRRC to help him heal. Sadly, birds who cannot fly again cannot be released and must be euthanized.

The officers at the Animal Shelter are also upset about the fishing line. They have cut down many birds, and it makes them very sad. They must be hoisted up on some kind of lift to reach the birds entangled in the fishing line. They are very gentle with the birds, but it's usually too late.

The Western Gull is a federally protected species, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. "The MBTA was born in an era when people adorned their hats with egret feathers, and signed their letters with pelican-quill pens. This act assures the protection of a healthy environment for people, fish and wildlife, and helps Americans conserve and enjoy our living treasures."

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This story has a good ending: On Friday, March 12, Jay Holcomb, Executive Director of IBRRC, and I met with a friendly City Council Member and several staff at the dump. After taking a good look around, Mr. Holcomb offered a solution that was cost-worthy and not difficult to implement. Tying long strands of reflective mylar from the fishing line would make it visible to birds from a distance. Loose ends of fishing line hanging down should be cut off. We were there for about 40 minutes, in the rain. I think the staff was wary at first, but Mr. Holcomb's approach worked. Why was the fishing line up there and how could IBRRC help? We learned that the dump is required to have vector control, and staff thought the fishing line, strung up by a pest control company, would work. The mylar should prevent other birds from being entangled in the line.

BEANS....

JAZZEL

Wasn't that so great
Those kids really enjoyed that, you could hear it when they were saying good by
they were so excited but so calm and quiet thats so nice to see kids respecting the wildlife
Thank You so much for all you and everyone does it still gives me the teary eyes when I watch you wonderful videos
I always look for them at Hancock I'm glad you bring them to us here

Thanks, kitten.... I enjoy making them.

Yesterday, someone brought in two baby pigeons whose nest was was compromised by a tree trimmer. We told the person that the babies could be put back in the nest, but he didn't want to do that.

We immediately put them in an incubator. After they warmed up, we weighed and examined them. They weighed 125 grams and 116 grams. They were healthy and not dehydrated. Mom did a good job!

They were hungry, of course, so I mixed up a 4:1 solution of Exact, a hand feeding powdered mix used for many baby birds. The amount of food we feed them is based on their weight. We were conservative. You can gently press on the crop on the right side of the neck to determine how full (or empty!) it is. It's important not to overfeed. I used a syringe and tiny rubber tube. I measured out 8cc for each of them, inserted the tube in the beak, and gently worked the tube down into the crop, on the right side of the neck. Then pressed the plunger, not quickly, and partially filled their crops. The solution was warmed before it was fed to them. The syringes, each filled with 8 ounces, were put into a cup of warm (about 105 F) water. They could probably take more. After feeding, they fell asleep, cuddled up in the incubator.



I fed them twice, about 1 1/2 hours apart. Then one of our volunteers, who had raised pigeons herself, put them in a small carrier lined with a soft towel and took them to WildCare in San Rafael. WildCare is experienced with baby pigeons, so they will be in good hands. I had visited that facility on Saturday and had a private tour of the facility, including the hospital.

The photo above is from the Internet - two babies that look just like the ones we checked in.

Now, I'm in love with pigeons...

Beans, its so nice that you are showing how rehabbers do these things. I got a call yesterday from someone worrying about a bunny nest they uncovered. Mama rabbits feed their babies by uncovering the nest and laying on top for nursing, only at dawn or dusk. Then she covers the nest back up. To know if the mama has been there, put some small sticks in a tic tac toe pattern on the top of the nest, and see if its still there after the next feeding time.

I have Rabbits like crazy and I'm always finding the babies out and I want to put them back but I have no clue what to even look for as far as a den or whatever they are called
What should I look for?

Kitten, if they baby rabbits are out of the nest then they are fine. Once their eyes open, they begin to eat on their own. Rabbit nests are usually hard to see unless you see the momma there at dusk or dawn feeding. They build many in open grass or under bushes. They line them with their fur, then cover them with leaves or grass. Unfortunately many people run over them with lawnmowers because they have no idea they are there. They are always well concealed. Baby rabbits also have a really low survival rate in rehab. They go into shock very easily.