Bird Cams Around the World

I'm always glad to see an animal successfully returned to the wild.


Male Brewer's Blackbird

Yesterday at Lindsay I set up an incubator for an adult Brewer's Blackbird. To date, most of my contact with songbirds has been feeding the babies. While I cleaned and disinfected the incubator, he waited not-so-patiently in his small brown paper bag. He had just been examined and weighed, and now he was to return to his cleaned incubator with fresh food and water in new dishes.

Songbirds are so different from the large pelagic birds I'm used to, such as grebes, gulls, loons, ducks, pelicans, etc. As I was taking him out of the bag and putting him into the incubator, he got away! I'm told this happens. In fact, this issue was covered during training. One turns out the lights in the room. He was captured (he wasn't flying well and was hiding in a corner). The interns grinned while my face went red. Songbirds are so small and fragile I'm almost afraid to handle them.

An injured Scrub Jay was admitted while I was in the Treatment Room. After a quick body exam, his mouth was swabbed with a long Q-tip that had been moistened with a saline solution. Then the examiner touched the Q-tip to a slide and took it to the microscope. What she was looking for is trichomoniasis. All birds admitted to the hospital are screened for trichomoniasis. New treatments have eliminated epidemics within the hospital. (Trich wasn't found in this bird.) To read more, click here

Lindsay presents the opportunity to work with a variety of wildlife, and I'm finding a like every animal I see. I feel like I'm starting over, and in a way I am.

I'm glad he's progressing. It's very stressful for wildlife to be in captivity. Causes of stress are abnormal light cycles, noise, repetitive handling, caging, diet, environment (humidity and temperature).

I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but I did wonder if maybe he would put on the weight better if he was returned to his family & freedom. But I understand the rehabber he's with is very good, so hopefully he will eventually be free.

If the patient's weight is low, his chances of doing well after release aren't good. It's best that his weight be normal, his blood values good, and everything else up to par.

Surviving in the wild is difficult and food may be difficult to find. At IBRRC, our birds have more to eat in captivity than they do in the wild! They are healthy and fat. (well, not really fat)

Beans, I have a bird room at my house. I can tell you they are all little escape artists, even the ones not feeling well. Opening up the cage door to clean etc....I just don't worry too much about it.

I wish we were advanced enough to perform tests as a standard at intake. We only do it if they are not gaining weight. Unfortunately, I keep getting birds attacked by cats, which are really tough cases. Bums me out, but I keep trying.

I admire you, Oxbarb! Just keep doing what you are doing. At Lindsay, where we get a lot of songbirds (if we get them at IBRRC, we transfer them to Lindsay after they are stabilized), we don't do blood tests. But the trich test is absolutely essential, to avoid an outbreak in the hospital. If a bird has trich, he is isolated until it is cleared up.

I thought you might like to see this live feed from Fort Jackson Oiled Bird Center, where volunteers and staff are washing oiled wildlife. In the middle of the room are the tubs of water with Dawn detergent. The water must be very warm so that the birds aren’t chilled. As their internal temperatures are around 104, the water is heated to approximately 106 or so. To the right is the rinsing station. Oxygenated shower heads are used. On this site, you can also watch the cameras monitoring the cap on the oil well.

Live feed here: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com ... 931/720959

Video: Special Bird Bath – Gulf Oil Spill

Thanks for sharing that live feed with us, Beans. Nothing going on right now, but I've made a mental note to check back later.

Recently we released the American Bitterns that we had raised from chicks. We had to be very careful around them, not letting them see us. Feeding them when they were small meant lifting the cover over their shorebird box and using a bird head puppet. I cut up mice for them, which they seemed to appreciate. When they were fully feathered, they were moved to one of the outdoor aviaries.

We released them not far from IBRRC. There’s a creek with trees that runs along Wetlands Lane. Here’s a picture:


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Zooming in, this picture shows you IBRRC on the far right and Wetlands Lane on the left:


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And zooming in more, here’s IBRRC. You can see our pelagic pools and at the bottom the Pelican Aviary. In the parking lot, you can see my little white car. It is the last car in the row with the red car, right next to the rosemary bushes. Our building is huge, but it sure looks tiny in this picture. The building is near the top of the picture.


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The American Bittern (botaurus lentiginosus) breeds in marshy areas of tall vegetation – cattails, bulrushes, or reeds but also in drier areas of tall grasses. Each nests singly, but males may be polygamous, with several females nesting separately within the territory.

The nest consists of a pile of reeds, sedges, or similar plant material available nearby and is built by the female alone. Breeding season begins in late April to May and ends by late July. Two – Five eggs are laid. The female incubates the eggs, beginning with the first egg, for 24 – 29 days. Eggs hatch over several days and young differ in size. Nestlings are semi-altricial and downy. The young leave the nest after about two weeks and are tended nearby. Age at first flight and at independence not known.

Source: Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds by Paul J. Baicich and Colin J. O. Harrison

Beautiful shot of the bittern beans! I can't believe they eat mice...thought the were fish eaters.

We gave them fish, too --

Thanks, Kitten!

I am grateful to the concerned watcher and the rescuers that were able to end what must have been acute suffering.
Frustrating how much suffering is caused by neglect and thoughtlessness.

thanks Kitten

Update on the Gulf Oil Spill from IBRRC

[img width=160 height=98]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g38/jeaniesa_2006/IBRRC/th_beforeandafter.jpg[/img]
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As of August 5, 1769 birds have been captured alive; 3606 collected dead.

For more information, please click here: Deepwater Horizon Response Consolidated Fish and Wildlife Collection Report, August 5

The report is released each day. All of the reports may be found here: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response

Animals Treated

Animal species treated:

Brown Pelicans
White Pelicans
Laughing Gulls
Northern Gannets
Night Herons
Cattle Egret
Snowy Egrets
Reddish Egret
Least Bitterns
Common Terns
Sandwich Terns
Least Terns
White Ibis
Herring Gulls
Dunlins
Roseate Spoonbills
Sanderlings
Terrapins
King Snake

Because the Fort Jackson Bird Rehabilitation Facility is located in a hurricane evacuation zone and is subject to damage from tropical storms and hurricanes, the facility moved to Hammond, Louisiana, about two weeks ago. Hammond is situated north of the evacuation zone for hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Moving the facility to Hammond eliminates the need to evacuate in the case of a storm and reduces stress and potential loss of life when transporting birds.

The Hammond Bird Rehabilitation Facility has air conditioning, wash stations, proper caging for aquatic birds, outdoor conditioning pens, and shallow pools for cleaned birds to exercise and prepare for release back to the wild.

The primary facility is a 30,000-square-foot structure. An adjacent 12,000-square-foot building will be used for offices, and a third 24,000-square-foot building will be used for storing and staging equipment or for future expansion of the rehabilitation facilities if needed. The 8-acre campus and structures will be extensively retrofitted to accommodate bird rehabilitation needs. Major highways nearby will facilitate trucking in oiled birds from the Gulf and transporting rehabilitated birds ready for release back to the wild.

Initially, the Hammond Bird Rehabilitation Facility will be capable of handling approximately 1,000 birds, and capacity could be increased to house as many as 2,000 to 3,000 birds.

BP is paying for the six-month lease on the Hammond Bird Rehabilitation Facility and all costs to retrofit the facility. BP contracted with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, Inc., to handle wildlife rehabilitation. Tri-State, together with International Bird Rescue Research Center, established the wildlife rehabilitation facility in Fort Jackson.