The Bird Rescue Center

Last, but certainly not least, let’s talk Barn Owls, because if you hear one while alone at night... you will be scared! Barn Owls don't hoot, they scream blood-curdling, heart-pounding screams. If you don't believe me, take a listen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ywq8luxcnE Don't worry, I'll wait. Or, better yet just let it play in the background this spooky season, for ambiance. If that scream wasn't intimidating enough, Barn Owls also hiss and clack their beaks! ...But Barn Owls aren't actually spooky, they're incredible birds and magnificent hunters, who just happen to have a call that sometimes sounds like dialup trying to fire up. Barn owls have fantastic vision, but even better hearing, which enable them to find prey in complete darkness. Their long legs, toes, and talons allow them to catch prey even in tall grass. On average, one wild Barn Owl will catch and eat close to 1500 mammals in a year, targeting mainly rats, moles, & gophers! Forget letting your cat outside, encourage your local Barn Owls to come clean up around your house! #RaptorMonth #Owloween #FreakyFriday #WesternScreechOwl #GreatHornedOwl #NorthernSawWhetOwl #BarnOwl #Owls #BirdsofPrey #SpookySeason #Halloween #WildlifeRehabilitation #WildBirdRehabilitation

Now this little one certainly isn’t spooky, but I couldn’t resist sharing him this Owl-O-Ween! The Northern Saw-whet Owl (i.e. NSWO) is one of the smallest owls we work with. They are under 8 inches tall, have a max wingspan of ~18 inches, and can weigh as little as 65 grams (i.e. the size of a golf or tennis ball)! Unlike many other avian species, NSWO do not mate for life. Rather, they find a new partner each breeding season. Shockingly, their adorable, good looks are not... enough to get the gal! These small owls are cavity nesters, often taking up residence in old woodpecker holes, and males will actually cache food in their nest cavities at the start of every breeding season to attract in a new female. Even outside of breeding season, NSWO will catch more food than they need at a given time and cache it for later. During winter, when the cached food may freeze, NSWOs will bring their frozen spoils back to their nest cavity and incubate it until it is ready to eat! #RaptorMonth #Owloween #FreakyFriday #WesternScreechOwl #GreatHornedOwl #NorthernSawWhetOwl #BarnOwl #Owls #BirdsofPrey #SpookySeason #Halloween #WildlifeRehabilitation #WildBirdRehabilitation

#TipTuesday - This Owl-O-Ween season, please be mindful of the types of decorations you put up around your yard. Beware of draping, hanging, or dangling decorations, such as fake spider webs, which can entrap and injury wildlife. If you find a wild animal entangled in decorations this spooky season, please call your local wildlife rehabilitation center asap. Removing the animal yourself can put both you and the animal at further risk of injury. #thebirdrescuecenter #trappedwildlife #entangledwildlife #halloweendecorations #saferhalloweendecorations #RaptorMonth #Owloween #WesternScreechOwl #GreatHornedOwl #Owls #BirdsofPrey #SpookySeason #Halloween #WildlifeRehabilitation #WildBirdRehabilitation

Whether you know it or not, there's a good chance you've heard a Great Horned Owl (i.e. GHOW) calling in the night. They make a call that sounds like "Hoo-hoo, hoo hoo" (see, I told you you'd know it). Coming it at ~25 inches tall, over 3lbs. in weight, and a wingspan up to 5 feet, they are the second heaviest owl in North America and the largest owl we have here in Sonoma County! Not only are these owls large, they are some of the strongest! Their adorably feathered legs, fe...et, & toes are not at all soft and cuddly. A GHOW can have a huge grip-span of nearly 8 inch from talon-tip to talon-tip and a grip strength of almost 500 PSI (that’s as much as a bald eagle)! Great Horneds are very common in our area. In fact, they are the second most prevalent owl admitted to our facility. As dusk gets earlier and earlier this fall, keep an ear out for these magnificent beings hooting away in your neighborhood! #RaptorMonth #Owloween #FreakyFriday #WesternScreechOwl #GreatHornedOwl #Owls #BirdsofPrey #SpookySeason #Halloween #WildlifeRehabilitation #WildBirdRehabilitation

Not only is October Raptor Month, but many people find owls a bit spooky so let's talk owls this October! Western Screech-owls (aka WESOs) are one of our tiniest, but feisty local owls. They are only ~8.7 inches tall & 143 gram (i.e. the weight of a baseball), but don’t let that fool you! These little guys are voracious predators. How are such tiny birds so successful? Their large eyes and ears provide excellent night-navigation, while the tips of their flight feathers are s...errated to reduce their flying noise. Which makes them the perfect silent predator of the night! So, what do they eat? Anything tiny rodents, insects, fish, amphibians, and even small birds. In the photo you will see a dissected pellet from a screech owl that came into BRC this year. Within it, we found the exoskeletons of potato bugs, beetles, and spiders, along with the bones of a small rodent. #RaptorMonth #Owloween #FreakyFriday #WesternScreechOwl #Owls #BirdsofPrey #SpookySeason #Halloween #WildlifeRehabilitation #WildBirdRehabilitation

As we posted in the early hours Monday, BRC made its third full evacuation. Thanks to planning and prior experience, our dedicated team was quick and efficient. All the birds (58 of them!), food, medications, paperwork, and important equipment were packed within just one hour and everyone was on their way to safety. We are so grateful to our sister organizations for immediately offering their support during our evacuation on Monday. Key staff and volunteers from BRC are still... tending to our Ambassadors while they enjoy their new surroundings. (Pictured here is Wowl at Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue.) Bird Rescue is currently closed to the public and volunteers. We are still maintaining our phone lines and providing assistance as much as we can while being off site. We had hoped to repopulate BRC this weekend, however the red flag warnings, poor air quality and potential changes in the direction of the fires continue to be concerning. We know all too well from past experience how quickly things can change when the winds shift. We will monitor conditions closely, but as long as there are active evacuation orders close by, we will continue to be cautious so as not to put humans or birds at risk. As you read this, we hope you are safe. Please take good care of yourselves during this trying time. Read more of our team's efforts: http://ow.ly/PLAp50BI3Xc

Update 3:10am. This photo was taken on arrival to the Center at midnight. With the evacuation orders increasing and becoming more urgent, the decision was made to fully evacuate our birds while we had the time, volunteers & staff available, and safety to do so. Thank you to those that were able to be at the ready in just minutes to get all our birds collected, travel to safer locations, and settled in for the night. We have such an amazing team of people and it is an honor to... be a part of it In a quick response, Native Songbird Care & Conservation, WildCare, and Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue have taken all our resident birds and hospital patients. We're so lucky to live in a community of interconnected help for our wildlife and the organizations that care for them. Thank you! As of this posting all birds are settled into their temporary setttings.

Update: our Executive Director is heading to be just 2 minutes from the Center and we continue to evaluate the evacuation conditions. We were hoping to never experience this again, but have become better prepared from the past. For those that may need to evacuate please stay safe. We will keep you updated as possible.

As soon as there was smoke, we were on alert. We've been closely monitoring the fires in west Sonoma County as well as those in Napa, Marin and Lake counties because we know firsthand what they can mean for a wildlife facility. The incredibly special thing about wildlife nonprofits in the Bay Area is that we are all connected; we share information, we share resources, and we consider each other friends. As soon as one is in need, we all pitch in. When BRC needed to evacuate d...uring the Tubbs Fire and during last fall's power outages, our sister organizations opened their doors immediately and offered us a safe haven. Currently BRC is currently in a "safe zone", and we are returning the favor. When we got the call from Napa Wildlife Rescue that they were evacuating, we were ready. Since their designated safe space did not have outdoor space for songbirds, both BRC and Native Songbird Care and Conservation in Sebastopol volunteered to help. Together, we would make sure that each and every one of those songbirds were moved out of harm's way and into a safe environment. With almost 200 birds already in our care, we welcomed 33 evacuees from Napa Wildlife Rescue. They will be here until it's safe to return. To all our extended Bird Rescue family, please know that we are thinking of you and hoping you are safe. We are here if you need us...and we look forward to the time we can once again feel safe, secure and free to be with one another. Find the whole story here: https://conta.cc/32gyDYE

While we celebrate our success stories, I must also share the most serious and sad news. This week we lost our Raptor Release Coordinator, Brad Marsh. After a battle with cancer, Brad passed away Monday morning in the hospital surrounded by familyhis wife and board member Sam, and his two children, Sean and Heather. Brad was our Raptor Release Coordinator. And he was so much more. Early in his BRC career he was a handling trainer, and he was always a phone team member extrao...rdinaire. Brad was also my dear friend. To say that he will be missed would be the largest of understatements. Brad was at BRC so frequently he was almost omnipresent; of course, that may be because in many ways Brad was larger than life, making friends with everyone with that booming voice and contagious wry humor! He was part of BRC’s knowledge-base; teaching us much about raptors and raptor handling and releasing. He was also responsible for connecting us to other organizations, both locally and around the world. Even when work or vacation took him away from BRC and the birds, he could always be counted on to support at a distance through research, connections and expert advice. May we all maintain the look of wonder and appreciation when we look at our birds, just as Brad did for so many years. He will be missed beyond measure, but his love and passion for the birds will live on in all of those whose lives he touched. In fact, the next time you look to the sky there may very well be a bird flying, wings outstretched, who but for Brad would not be there. A celebration of his life will be planned once people can once again safely gather. Brad's family suggests donations in his memory to the project to build a new Bird Rescue Center. Contributions can be mailed to the Bird Rescue Center, P.O. Box 475, Santa Rosa 95402, or made online at: https://birdrescuecenter.org/donation-form/ Ashton Kluttz Executive Director

We weren't kidding! 62 birds are back out to the wild in 4 days! Not only is this a success for restoring wings to the wild, but also allows for 40 more birds to immediately move ahead into pre-release housing. Bonus points if you can name the species by their bird code! #wildliferehab #flyingfree #wildlife #releaseweek #release #birds

Each month we do a clean slate on our release board. We have to hold off through the 4th of July holiday weekend as we don't want our newly rehabilitated birds' first nights to be filled with fireworks, so this coming week is dubbed Release Week. Our hospital manager anticipates we have 60 birds returning to the wild! #bird #releaseweek #birdrescue #wildliferehab #sonomacounty

We wanted to share our first-ever baby Nuttall's Woodpecker soft release! The baby Nuttall's Woodpeckers in the video arrived at BRC after their nesting tree was in was cut down. They lost their parents and had a prolonged stay with us until they were able to fend for themselves. After over a month in care growing, learning how to fly and forage, and successfully demolishing any wood in sight they were finally ready. We were able to coordinate with our dedicated volunteer, ...Dana Glei, a suitable 'soft release' woodpecker house onto her property that has a healthy existing population of Nuttall's for these young ones to learn from. A 'soft release' allowed her to supply food while the birds acclimated to their new surroundings and she was able to provide food after their hatch was opened in case they wanted to return for shelter or a quick snack. She has shared some photos where all other critters in the neighborhood took advantage of the free food though! They're quick little ones that are always on the move, so it was difficult to capture them. Dana was able to set up an inside cam and here's a quick clip!

Since May 1st, we have admitted over 1,191 birds with over 25% of the babies admitted as a result of one of two things: the loss of their home due to tree trimming, or a close encounter with a family feline. Tree trimming, pruning shrubs and clearing brush are important - especially in light of our experience with wildfires. And with shelter-in-place mandates keeping us home, many are using this time to cut, clear and prune. Sadly, these activities can have unintended conseq...uences. This is the time when birds are nesting and their babies are most vulnerable. As a general rule, it is best to postpone tree cutting and trimming until September when most babies have left the nest. Here are some ways you can help reduce this number while still keeping your yard looking its best!