Bird Ally X: New Wild Review

Board of directors member and HWCC rehabilitator, Nora Chatmon (r) talks about human/wildlife conflict as Assistant Rehabilitation Manager, Lucinda Adamson (l) listens. For the latest episode of New Wild Review, four-fifths of Humboldt Wildlife Care Center's clinic staff got together in February to talk about our Humane Solutions program - a backstage unfiltered eavesdrop as we talk about our work, our frustrations and some of the misconceptions about our wild neighbors that work against peaceful co-existence... Rehabilitator and Humane Solutions consultant Brooke Brown. Nora Chatmon, Lucinda Adamson, Monte Merrick and Brooke Brown discuss our Humane Solutions program, in a backstage way... The discussion took off, lasting much longer than expected. In this epsiode, part one of our staff roundtable discussion, featuring Lucinda Adamson, Nora Chatmon, and Brooke Brown, we cover many of the frustrations - next episode the meaning, the awe and the victories - coming soon, the second half, in S2E3... We hope you enjoy this discussion and remember! - our successful work keeping wild families together comes from your support! Thank you!

2021 and hopefully new hope are here! For the first podcast of the new season, here's New Wild Review, vol 2 ep 1; - in which first we look at post release studies, and the limitations our obligations as caregivers place on invasive practices. Then we turn our attention to protecting wild families by protecting wild mothers - in this case skunks looking for mates and dens during the winter. Hope you find it informative and useful! Thank you for helping us get through a difficult year!!! DONATE today to help us rescue injured and orphaned wild neighbors.

Times are hard. Here are some poems about the Wild. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Dismantle whiteness.

In our latest episode of New Wild Review we look at the sudden changes the global pandemic caused by the outbreak of coronavirus disease - 19. As states, counties and municipalities move to slow the spread of the virus, through shelter in place orders and social distancing, essential services, including wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, continue. How does the pandemic effect our work? How will the pandemic effect wildlife? We don't know. But we can ponder it while we work.If you're at a facility that is open and admitting patients, check out this World Health Organization document on preparing your workplace to keep yourself and co-workers safe.

In our fourth episode, I read an essay, Letting Nature Take Its Course, which was first published on this website in 2016 and again in the beautiful magazine, Wild Hope in 2019. Also included in this episode is a reading of the poem, Deer Skull. As always, thank you for supporting our work. I hope you enjoy this episode. A significant amount of the music in this episode was cmpossed and performed by Erica McCool. more of her incredible music can be found here: https://pezhed1.bandcamp.com/

For our third episode, I sat down with BAX co-founder and co-director Dr. Shannon Riggs, to talk about her career providing medical care for injured and orphaned wild animals, the past, present and future of wildlife rehabilitation, and the never ending need for financial support. We also discover a shared opinion on the topic of Rage Against the Machine. Hope you enjoy the episode!

Hi Friends and Lovers of the Wild, Back in January, I posted a story on our facebook page concerning a study of the Common Murre (Uria aalge) die off that occured in the Eastern Pacific Ocean the the Fall/Winter/Spring of 2015/2016. It's a sad story about the deaths of a million of these remarkable seabirds. Immediately after posting the story I got a message from a friend and fellow animal rescuer in the Los Angeles area: "It all seems so heartbreakingly pointless doesn’t it? We’re busting our asses saving one animal at a time and the whole f*****g planet is on the brink of extinction. If we don’t blow ourselves up in another war first." I felt that her despair was real and very familiar. So I wanted to address it without relying on platitudes... It became the instigator of our second podcast for our newy launched Bird Ally X: New Wild Review. It's a 29 minute "meditation" on our current world and the inevitable nature of despair. No answers are offered, but I hope that those of you in this field who feel hopeless at times are at least offered a branch to cling to... As always, if you like our content and appreciate our work, please support us. Thank you for your love of the Wild, and your support of Bird Ally X,Monte Merrick DONATE This podcast was written and produced by Monte Merrick. The music used in this podcast is from Dreaming Dead Sea (Uria aalge)

Volume 1, Episode 1 Natural history, daily work, and frequent sightings: Our first episode of our new podcast! In this premiere episode, we're sharing BAX co-founder Monte Merrick's talk on the importance of understanding the lives of wild animals in order to provide quality care for injured wildlife in care. This is adapted from a talk MM gave at an oil spill conference in 2007.

Earlier this Spring, three very young Allen’s Chipmunks (Tamias senex) were found inside a truck that was being serviced in Oakland, about 300 miles south in the Bay Area. The truck had been in Humboldt County last so when the youngsters were taken to our colleagues at Wildcare in Marin County, they contacted us to see if we could raise them here, closer to their origin. For the next several days Wildcare staff provided 'round-the-clock care for the three babies who still had their eyes closed. There are thirteen species of chipmunks in our state - Allen’s Chipmunks (also know as the Shadow chipmunk!) are found throughout the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Cascades, but only in our region, between the Klamath and Eel Rivers, do they live along the coast. They needed to come home. Arrangements for travel were easily made and soon they were back in Humboldt County. Soon after arrival at HWCC, their eyes began to open. Over the course of five weeks, HWCC/bax staff and volunteers took care of these three little members of squirrel family. As they aged, gradually they were weaned from a milk replacer onto a natural diet. At first they required several feedings throughout the day, with staff trekking back to clinic long past dark to do late night feedings, and arriving earlier than usual to feed them close to dawn. Everyday we make formulas for our patients to replace their mother's milk.  Once a chipmunk knows where the food is, they eat very well. http://birdallyx.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Chipmunks-April-may-2018-2-of-2.m4v A unguarded moment. Besides their nutritional needs and other aspects of their health care, we also had to provide an environment where they could learn to live on their own, find the food they would need, so they could succeed in the world their parents had planned for them - a world where they could meet their own kind, and have a second chance to live their birthright, wild and free. Once their eyes opened, we began to offer the young forest dwellers remnants of home and an expanded menu. While out of their housing to be fed, our patients are provided with any treatments they need. Daily weight checks at this time help us track their progress and health. Your support keeps our doors open and our clinic functioning. Without you, our wild neighbors would have nothing in thier times of distress. Thank you! Please donate what you can.   Not yet fully weaned, they are given even more room, more comforts of home, and more diet options. For their last week in care, the young chipmunks were fairly independent. We'd moved them to outdoor housing when they were weaned where they were provided extensive privacy and natural foods such as berries, mushrooms, grass seeds and insects. After proving they could thrive in the more challenging environment, they were released. We released them on the bank of a forest stream. We left them with a small amount of seed to see them through the early stages of exploring their environment. We left them confident that they knew what to do next with their freedom. A last glimpse... we transported the chipmunks to their release site in the small shelter we'd provided them in their outdoor housing - now when they emerge the only difference will be freedom! Your support is what makes wildlife rehabilitation possible. Whether you are in Marin County and you support Wildcare, or you are on the North Coast and you support HWCC/bax, or wherever you are, without you the work we do - at home and in partnership with our colleagues across California - would simply not be possible. You make it happen with your generosity. Thank You!!

Spring is in full swing now and wild babies are showing up in the world, getting found by kids, cats, dogs, and other suburban challenges! Last week, a youg Black Phoebe, fresh from the nest, was found by students on the ground at East High, an alternative high school in Fortuna. Brought to our clinic, we quickly determined that the young bird was a fledgling, not injured. Although songbirds live among us, closer than almost any other wild animals, many people remain unaware that fledgling birds often spend up to a week not quite ready to fly, but more than ready to jump form the nest. This is a very vulnerable time for these little guys, but it's a time that every adult bird you see has passed through. Of course our modern world, with housecats, dogs, and cars lurking behind every moment, presents some dangers that natural life on Earth doesn't, but still the best place for a fledgling bird is with her or his parents. After giving this Phoebe an exam and some food, we started to arrange for the best possible plan - reuniting the family. http://birdallyx.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/feeding-BLPH.mp4 Black Phoebe eating mealworms while in our care ...........   (video BAX/Lucinda Adamson) Two days later, we took the little Phoebe back to Fortuna, back to the exact location where s/he was found. Adult Black Phoebes were flying all over the area. A hole in the wall of an outbuilding appeared to have a Phoebe nest. Our staff placed the young bird as close to the nest as possible, off the ground and hopefully out of danger.   Black Phoebe adults in flight - are these our guy's parents?                                (BAX/Laura Corsiglia)   The young Phoebe sits waiting for parents.                                                                         (BAX/Laura Corsiglia) Soon the youngster made a short flight to the roof of the building. Almost immediately an adult approached. Success! Soon the fledgling's parents were bringing food. We stayed to make sure that all was well and then left this wild family to their own world, right out in the open, in the middle of our world, yet so mysterious!   Thank you for supporting our work! Your donation goes directly to our efforts to provide care for injured and orphaned wild animals, and to promoting co-existence with all of our wild neighbors. Please share our work, and if you can, donate today!   All photos (BAX/Laura Corsiglia)