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Baby birds in need get a helping hand
By DONNA WINCHESTER © St. Petersburg Times, published June 20, 2001 INDIAN SHORES -- The procession at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary begins as early as daybreak, peaking around dinner time, sometimes going as late as midnight. Men, women and children arrive at 18328 Gulf Blvd. carrying cardboard boxes, shopping bags and rolled-up newspaper. They ring the bell and tell stories about the injured, disoriented or orphaned baby birds they have found. As many as 70 hatchlings and fledglings -- birds from a couple of days to a few weeks old -- arrive daily at the sanctuary during baby bird season, the months from April to August when songbirds breed and hatch, according to director Ralph Heath. Doves, blue jays, mockingbirds, crows, cardinals and Carolina wrens occupy wire cages stacked to the ceiling. They nestle inside plastic containers that cover every available surface in the sanctuary's 1,000-square-foot hospital. Some birds have broken wings or legs. Some have been injured by larger animals. Some shake from the effects of pesticide poisoning. About one-fourth of them are healthy but for one reason or another have become separated from their parents. "We easily have several hundred baby birds this time of year," Heath said, adding that he hires extra employees to assist his 27-member staff. The birds stay from a couple of weeks to several months, depending on their age and condition. The sick ones must be monitored closely and medicated regularly. All of them must be fed from eye droppers or with tweezers at half-hour to hour intervals. Because baby bird season coincides with the time of year when many people are working in their yards, the hatchlings are at greatest risk just when they are most vulnerable, Heath said. Homeowners often don't realize they are intruding on bird habitats when they are trimming tree limbs and pruning shrubbery. Winds pose another threat, he said. Doves build especially fragile nests that can blow out of trees, scattering baby birds on the ground and breaking delicate bones. But the worst danger, he said, is pesticides. Adult birds pick off poisoned insects from lawns and feed them to their young. In some cases, the adults eat the poisoned insects and die before they return to the nest, orphaning their offspring. Besides natural predators like cats, dogs and snakes, Heath said children also can threaten baby birds. "Kids sometimes take baby birds out of nests," he said. "They think they can raise them by taking them home, but they should only come to a bird's aid when there's something wrong." Adults should follow the same advice, according to staff member Beth Harrod, who said that many baby birds are brought to the sanctuary unnecessarily. "People find them on the ground because that's where they're supposed to be," she said. "Birds come out of the nest because they don't need to be there anymore." Sometimes people do more harm than good, said Jean Murphy, park naturalist at the Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service in Largo. "Fledglings learn to fly from the ground up," she said. "It's a very natural process. A lot of people will think the young birds can't fly. They try to rescue them, but they orphan them. They take them away from their parents." Baby birds need their parents even after they have learned to fly, said Jack Stout, a biology professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. "The parents will continue to feed them for some time, even after they can fly," he said. "They're learning to hunt, to catch insects and to find seeds." In many cases, Heath said, the best choice is to try to return a baby bird to its nest, or to the approximate place where its nest was located. "The first thing people think of is that they can't touch a baby bird," he said. "It's the most common old wives' tale. It's perfectly okay to pick up a baby bird." But if a hatchling or fledgling is injured or non-responsive, or if after a period of observation -- an hour at most -- an adult bird doesn't come to its aid, Heath encourages people to bring it to the sanctuary, where professionals will do whatever they can to help it. A baby bird's survival rate will depend on several factors, including its age and how badly it has been hurt, Heath said, but he estimates that between 75 percent and 80 percent of the birds brought to the sanctuary are eventually released. Whether they are babies or adults, returning birds to their natural habitat is the seabird sanctuary's ultimate goal, Harrod said. "We're only second-best. Nature is the best place for them." Can you help?The Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary is looking for volunteers during baby bird season. If you are 18 or older and can donate a few hours a week caring for sick or injured birds, call the sanctuary between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., seven days a week, at 391-6211. On-the-job training will be provided. Onlinehttp://www.seabirdsanctuary.org/
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
