Injured Birds: How Can You Help?

Helene Van Doninck releases a barred owl. Photo: Sherry Martell

 Helene Van Doninck is a veterinarian at the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. The CWRC is a not for profit charitable organization dedicated to providing veterinary care to sick, injured and orphaned wildlife. Helene took the time to share her extensive experience caring for injured birds with us in this post:

Have you ever been in a situation where you have discovered a bird in distress and wished there was something you could do to help? 

Luckily, you can help if you contact a wildlife rehabilitation centre where volunteers dedicate their time and skills to helping injured, orphaned and sick birds. As a wildlife veterinarian who operates such a centre, I deal with people who want to help birds that they find, but need some advice and assistance. I give the best advice and care that I can and stress that it is important to bring injured animals to trained individuals, as they often need medical care.

Injured birds can be captured and transported using common objects. 

While some of the larger birds can be more dangerous to handle and require special advice (raptors, loons, herons are some examples), most birds can be captured by dropping a towel or blanket over them and scooping them into a plain cardboard box. Remember to poke air holes in the top section of the box, tape it securely and place a towel or other secure footing on the bottom of the box to prevent the bird from sliding on a slippery surface during transport.

Rehabilitation centres are busiest during the spring and summer months when young birds are fledging, but winter months come with their own perils. Our most common reasons for winter admissions include birds that are: 

• Hit by cars or have had some other type of trauma
• Injured from striking a window
• Victims of cat predation
• Poisoned by lead
• Oiled
• In a starvation state often due to extreme weather conditions.

Spring and summer admissions include all of the above admission reasons as well as animals that are: 

• Orphaned or presumed orphaned
• Contaminated with oil, poisoned, or trapped,
• Victims of gunshot, electrocution, and entrapment.

Rehabilitation centres often will admit all native species unless they specialize in certain groups. At the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre we will admit all bird species, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians. We do have special expertise and interest in raptors, seabirds, and oiled wildlife and our caseload and species diversity changes every year. For instance, in 2010, our most common patients were bald eagles, closely followed by other species of raptors, songbirds, and seabirds. 

One of our most recent success stories was the rescue of a barred owl that had been trapped in a coil of wire in a barn for several days in bitter cold before being discovered by the property owner. We received this bird in a weak, dehydrated and semi-comatose state. It needed several days of intensive medical care, but once it survived the initial problem, it simply needed to be fed properly and housed in a safe environment until it was strong and ready for release. It was returned to home territory last week and released in the grateful presence of the finder. 

Photos 4-6 courtesy of Sherry Martell

This week brought us a young red-tailed hawk that was hit by a car and received a broken leg, a head injury and some eye damage. The head and eye will heal in time, but the leg is now sporting four metal pins that were placed during a two hour surgery this afternoon. The implants will stay in place until the bone heals. After the pins are removed, the bird will undergo rehabilitation until we are sure it is in the best state possible for release into the wild.

While not every bird brought into our care has such a happy ending, it’s these type of cases that keep us  motivated to continue helping birds in distress every day.

Happy World Wetlands Day!

Source: Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Today is the 40th anniversary of World Wetlands Day, which marks the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) in Ramsar, Iran.

Forty years ago today, 18 countries met to establish the Ramsar Convention. Since then it has grown to include160 member countries. Their work has resulted in 1, 912 wetlands of international importance, a.k.a Ramsar Sites. To date, this covers an area greater than 186 million hectares. In Canada there are a total of 37 Ramsar Sites covering more than 13 million hectares. Their designation as Ramsar Sites does not entitle them to national legal protection, unless they are within established protected areas.

A news release issued by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, eloquently outlines the vital role wetlands play in maintaining a healthy and thriving planet:

“They include lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes, swamps, peat bogs, beaches, reefs, mangrove forests … and more. There is no doubt that wetlands are among the world’s richest ecosystems, supporting all humankind in various ways – by providing freshwater, supporting fisheries including aquaculture, helping to regulate the water cycle, providing flood and storm protection, supporting some of the world’s most stunning biodiversity, playing a significant role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, providing sustainable livelihoods to some of the world’s poorest people, and offering a place to ‘play’ for those of us with leisure time. Wetlands are indeed more than just a muddy swamp – many economists looking at the ecosystem services they deliver put their value higher than for any other ecosystem. Yet wetlands continue to be destroyed to make way for inland and coastal developments and degraded through poor water allocation decisions, pollution, and excessive water extraction.”

The slogan for World Wetlands Day 2011 is “Forests for Water and Wetlands”, which unites this celebration with the United Nations declaration of 2011 as the International Year of Forests. The purpose of this year's theme is to highlight the benefits that forested wetlands have to offer, how forests (wet and dry) play a role in our lives and how they’re important for the functioning of wetlands.

World Wetlands Day is a great opportunity for governments, NGOs and citizens to take action to raise awareness of the global importance of wetlands and the critical role they play in our well-being. To view activities taking place during WWD click here.

Bringing the World’s Forests Into Focus: 2011 International Year of Forests

In an effort to raise awareness on the sustainable development and management of forests, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2011 the International Year of Forests.

Why are forests important enough to warrant a  global campaign?

Quite simply, the world’s forests are essential to life on this planet.

For starters, the majority of the earth’s biodiversity lives in forests. Since Canada is home to 10% of the world’s forests – forests cover half the Canadian landscape – we have a key role to play in the global effort to conserve and sustainably manage forests. 


As the “lungs of the earth”, forests absorb carbon dioxide, reducing the effects of climate change. Among other things, forests provide wildlife with a place to live, reduce sedimentation and regulate flooding, and help people reduce their energy consumption by shading buildings and screening winds.

To celebrate International Year of Forests, Nature Canada and other conservation groups will be promoting dialogue on forests and engaging people in forest activities.

We’ll be following all things related to International Year of Forests on Twitter and Facebook, and providing interesting forest facts and forest ecosystem profiles on our Nature Canada blog and enewsletter throughout the year.

We're already involved in conserving and restoring forest ecosystems in Canada, particularly in the Boreal Forest. At 1.3 billion acres, the Canadian Boreal Forest is one of the largest intact forest and wetland ecosystems remaining on earth.

We support the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, an alliance of conservation groups, First Nations, and leading Canadian companies whose aim is to protect 50% of the region and support sustainable practices in local communities.


To that end, Nature Canada worked with First Nations and governments at all three levels to establish the Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve, which was announced in February 2010. This Park Reserve, along with an adjacent provincial park, caps a 15-year effort and will protect roughly 13,000 km2 of boreal forest habitat. The permanent protection of such a large area of boreal forest ensures at-risk species like the woodland caribou and the harlequin duck have the habitat they need to survive.

We're continuing to participate in discussions about the final park boundaries to ensure that wildlife is protected.

As the boreal forest extends as far north as the Northwest Territories, so have our conservation efforts. We are working to protect the Edéhzhíe National Wildlife Area by advocating for the reinstatement of interim protection for Edéhzhíe's subsurface lands. You can join our campaign to protect this globally significant stopover point for Tundra Swan and Greater White-fronted Goose.

We're also working with James Bay Cree to protect migratory birds of the Ontario and Quebec boreal region, by identifying shared conservation priorities around birds and Important Bird Areas. It's a natural relationship, since we share a common interest with many of the communities in protecting these areas - the habitat and ecosystem conservation that we are seeking acts to conserve an important part of their culture. Protecting and monitoring Important Bird Areas is the cornerstone of bird conservation in forest ecosystems like those in the James Bay region. 

We have also worked to protect critical forest habitat for endangered species, such as the Woodland caribou. Since leading a coalition of groups who worked to establish Canada’s Species at Risk Act, we've been hard at work ensuring that wildlife protection laws are fully in effect.

Beyond our national boundaries, we've extended our reach to include a project in Haiti that provides an incentive – free education for elementary-school-aged children – for communities in the Macaya National Park to adopt sustainable forest management practices. In this way, the school offered hope for 300 girls and boys while providing incentives to relieve pressure on important habitat for Canadian migratory birds like the Bicknell’s Thrush.

For its part, the UN is providing a series of communications initiatives and materials, which include a website, logo, film and art competitions, exhibits and promotional multimedia projects. Its goal, among others, is to “Promote observance of the Year not as an isolated event but as part of a continuing process of advocacy and partnership to foster greater awareness and action towards sustainable forest management at all levels.”

Forests are important around the world. Here are a few reasons why:

• 30% of forests are used for production of wood and non-wood
  products.
• Forests cover 31% of total land area.
• The livelihoods of over 1.6 billion people depend on forests.
• Primary forests account for 36% of forest area.
• Trade in forest products was estimated at $327 billion in 2004.
• Forests are home to 300 million people around the world.
• Forests are home to 80% of our terrestrial biodiversity.