tri-state bird rescue volunteer flyer 12/14

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Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research

MONTHLY FLYERA Volunteer Newsletter

December 2014

Celebrating 38 years of excellence inwildlife rehabilitation and research

Photo: moonbeampublishing.com Editor: Loretta Carlson

LET IT SNOW?

We’ve had a touch of winter already with November’s plunge into the thirties. Soon, however, snow and icewill accompany the freezing temperatures and make it difficult for volunteers to come in for their shifts. So if

you own a 4-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicle and are willing to come in on short notice in bad weather, please

contact Julie at (302) 737-9543, extension 102, or send her an e-mail at [email protected]. Thank you!

NEW TRADITION AT TRI-STATE

For years, Tri-State has held a holiday party honoring volunteers in December. Now we’d like to start a newtradition. On March 22, 2015, we will hold our Volunteer Appreciation Celebration in the new Wildlife Response

Annex. This event will include distribution of the annual volunteer awards and a fabulous free-flight bird show

by Phung Luu and Jackie Kozlowski. So please mark your calendars for March 22 at 2 p.m. and come ready tobask in the glow of our appreciation!

SHARE YOUR BOUNTY; HELP YOUR NEIGHBORS

Although the economy continues to improve for many people, some of our neighbors still depend on foodpantries to help them feed their families. In response to this need, for the fifth year in a row, Tri-State issponsoring a food drive to benefit the Food Bank of Delaware.

Collection dates are December 3 through 20. Food will be distributed

in our community through hunger relief agencies such as food

pantries, soup kitchens, daycare centers, senior centers, homelessshelters, nursing homes, and faith-based organizations. Items indemand include canned vegetables, canned fruits, canned meats,soups, stew and chili, peanut butter, cereal, pasta, and rice. NO

glass containers. The Food Bank also accepts donations of pet food.

Collection bins will be in the Tri-State lobby. Please open your heartsand share your bounty with our neighbors in need by cleaning out

your pantries at home or by shopping for items urgently neededduring this holiday season. For more information on the Food Bankof Delaware, go to www.fbd.org.

THANK YOU, KNITTERS!

Thanks to some fabulously talented bird-care volunteers who alsoknit, we have adorable, hand-made bird ornaments for sale in the

lobby. Many thanks go to Betty Jane Anderson, Sharyn Fagone,

Janice Brink, Rue Manning, Debbie Palermo, Gail Shrenk, and LaurelHaring for volunteering their time and talent to this fund-raiser. Not

only do these ornaments make great holiday gifts, but all proceedsbenefit Tri-State. Prices range from $5 for the small “bluebird ofhappiness” to $20 for the largest ornaments. Check out the tree in

the lobby and bring some Tri-State spirit into your home for the holidays.

Staff Phot



Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research 2

RECENT RELEASES

On October 3, volunteer Doug Reppa transported a juvenilered-tailed hawk from Wilmington that a passerby found in the

road. The youngster was depressed on arrival and had bloodin its mouth and nares, an eye injury, and small abrasions on

its foot indicating a likely collision with a passing vehicle. Slowto adjust to life in our clinic, the hawk finally showed some

interest in self-feeding after we moved it to an outside cage.By October 13, with its wounds healing and eye injuryresponding to medication, the hawk began self-feeding,

showing a definite preference for quail over mice. Over the

next two weeks, the hawk practiced its flight skills and built itsstrength and stamina. By the end of October, our patient

passed “mouse school” with flying colors and was observed skillfully flying, banking, and turning in the flightcage. We banded the red tail, and volunteers Doug and Arlene Reppa released it on October 31 back in thearea where it was found.

A song sparrow came to us on October 27 after it struck a window at a Newark business. Dull on admission,the juvenile held its eyes closed and had a swollen, lacerated ear. We cleaned the wounds, administeredantibiotics and pain medication, and treated the sparrow for parasites. By the next day, our patient was

enjoying seed, mealworms, and fruit. Once the sparrow’s ear and eye injuries began healing, we moved thebird outside. After spending several days in a large cage, its flight skills improved. We released the song

sparrow onsite at Tri-State on November 11.

At this time of year, many people head south to seek warmer weather. But a juvenile brown pelican reversedthat journey, hitching a ride on a barge in Florida and ending up in Delaware. The pelican was very thin andweak when it arrived at Tri-State on November 12, but the bird eagerly perched on a bath pan and accepted

hand-fed mullet. Although it continued to enjoy daily swims and was observed paddling and preening in the

tub, the pelican was not eating well. Brown pelicans are very social birds, and it soon became clear to us thatwe needed to send our patient to a center that had other pelicans. We knew that the Outer Banks Wildlife

Shelter in Newport, North Carolina, typically has twenty to thirty pelicans in-house. With the aid of volunteersJim and Sue McVoy, who drove our patient all the way to North Carolina, we transferred our patient to a placewhere he will enjoy the company of other pelicans. Outer Banks Wildlife will continue to care for this pelican

until it is strong enough to be released into a healthy flock of conspecifics. THANK YOU, Jim and Sue, for

making yet another marathon drive on behalf of the birds.

OTHER RELEASES IN NOVEMBER

Releases last month also included a Cooper’s hawk, a great horned owl, a turkey vulture, Canada geese, a

Carolina wren, grey catbirds, a northern mockingbird, white-throated sparrows, a house finch, a dark-eyed junco, and a mourning dove.

FEATURED BIRD: AMERICAN WOODCOCK

The secretive American woodcock is a shorebird that spends most of its time hiding in forests and fields. Itsmottled brown, black, gray, and white plumage allows the bird to become almost invisible to the casualobserver. Plump and short-legged, the woodcock has a long, thin bill with flexible tips that enable it to probeinto the ground for food and large eyes set high on its head that enable it to watch for predators approaching

from above.

Woodcocks are rarely seen during the day. However, at dawn and dusk during breeding season, malewoodcocks perform a spectacular courting ritual. Giving their diagnostic buzzy peent , the males fly from the

ground and circle as high as 300 feet. Then they launch into a complex series of chips and whistles in a songthat includes twittering sounds produced by their wing feathers as they spiral back to the ground.

Solitary birds for most of the year, woodcocks live in polygamous colonies during breeding season. After

mating, the male has no further role in incubating or raising the young. The female usually makes a shallow

Photo by Doug Reppa



Monthly Flyer , December 2014 3

depression in ground litter, where she lays one to five eggs and

incubates them for 20 to 21 days. The precocial young leave thenest shortly after hatching, take their first flight at about 14 daysold, and become completely independent by 42 to 56 days old.

Although the American woodcock populations are relatively stable,

they are vulnerable to habitat loss due to development. Their

primary diet of earthworms also makes woodcocks vulnerable toheavy-metal poisoning, and their habit of foraging on the forestfloor can expose them to pesticides. Learn more about the

American woodcock at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About

Birds website, www.allaboutbirds.org; in Birds of North America ,published by the Smithsonian Institution; or your own favorite birding book.

RECORD ALL YOUR VOLUNTEER HOURS

Be sure to record on your timesheets all volunteer activities you perform for Tri-State, not just hours worked inthe clinic. We know many people help with gardening, maintenance work, laundry, the “knitted bird project,”shopping, administration and development needs, and other tasks. All these activities benefit Tri-State Bird

Rescue and count as volunteer hours. Please note: When you transport birds, record those hours in the

notebook located behind the front desk. Thank you!

ANNEX TOURS EXTENDED

Our Wednesday tours of the Wildlife Response Annex have beenextended into December. Meet on the second-floor deck at 4 p.m. on

December 3, 10, and 17 to view the latest construction progress.

Capital campaign donations bring us closer to completion, help ussave birds’ lives, and are gratefully accepted. Please contact DukeDoblick, director of development, at [email protected] or

(302) 737-9543, extension 108, if you would like to make a donationor pledge. Contributions or pledges of $1,500 or more receive

permanent recognition; go to www.tristatebird.org/campaign for

details.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Oil Spill Training, Saturday, December 13, 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Registration is required. Please contact

Michelle Neef at (302) 737-9543.

Information Sessions. All those interested in volunteering at Tri-State must attend an information sessionbefore they can register for a bird care workshop. These one-hour information sessions give prospective

volunteers a good overview of our operations and expectations.

February Sessions: Saturday, February 21, 11 a.m.; Saturday, February 28, 11 a.m.

March Sessions: Saturday, March 7, 11 a.m.; Saturday, March 21, 11 a.m.; Thursday, March 26, 6 p.m.

Adult Bird Care Workshop. Saturday, March 28, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.

Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, Sunday, March 22, 2 p.m. We’ve moved our volunteer recognitionceremony from December to March. See the article above for all the exciting details.

Open House. Sunday, May 3, 2015. It’s never too early to start thinking about the 2015 Open House. We’llhave not only the Frink Center available for tours, but also our new Wildlife Response Annex. Stop by and seeDuke Doblick in the development office or call him at (302) 737-9543, extension 108, to learn how you can

help us plan this important community event.

Staff Photo

Photo b Derek Stoner

tri-state bird rescue volunteer flyer 12/14

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