New York City is the only major U.S. city without a dedicated wildlife rehabilitation center. The Wild Bird Fund is about to change that, and we really need your help.

Big news! The Wild Bird Fund just signed a ten-year lease for 565 Columbus Ave., an attractive storefront just across the street from Animal General and the Center of Avian and Exotic Medicine. Our architect is already drawing up the plans for the build-out, for which we have financing. All we need now is the money for medical equipment, supplies, cages, and operating expenses.

So, please join us on June 18 at the Boat Basin Cafe for The Wild Bird Fund Takes Flight, a summer fundraiser.


The celebration includes:

• A raffle
• A silent auction
• Live demonstrations of rehab techniques
• An opportunity to meet our rehab team and some of our patients

When: June 18, 2011 from 4 to 8 pm.
Where: Boat Basin Café, W. 79th St. at the Marina
Tickets: $20, children free

Tickets are tax deductible and available at the door and online.

If you are unable to join us but still want to help New York City’s wildlife, you can make a donation at wildbirdfund.com or by mail; Wild Bird Fund, 558 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024

Spread the word: Tell your friends! See you there!

When he got the call to attend to a duck tangled in fishing line on April 30, Animal Care and Control rescuer Brendon Ocasio didn’t expect anything unusual, but upon arriving to the scene in Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn, between Bensonhurst and Coney Island, Brendon knew this rescue would be anything but usual. Instead of finding a tangled up duck, he found a Brant, a small ocean goose, so badly tangled in fishing line that it was tethered to an algae-covered rock about 10 feet out into the bay. To make the situation even more dire, a 20-ft. embankment separated Brendon from the Brant.

“The tide was coming in and he was getting smacked up (against the rocks). I was ready to get in the water,” Brendon says. Realizing that the Brant was in distress, Brendon acted quickly. He didn’t have a ladder or repelling equipment, so Brendon did the next best thing: He tied the lead ropes he uses in dog rescues to the embankment’s railing and lowered himself, armed with a carrier, into the bay. As he carefully climbed over the slick rocks, Brendon saw that the Brant’s leg, body and wing were wrapped in fishing line. “I’m for people fishing, but throw away your stuff,” Brendon says.

Brendon approached the Brant, cradled it in his arms, and cut away enough of the fishing line to free the Brant and place it in the carrier. The Brant remained calm as Brendon freed it from the rock. “It was really tired; it had obviously been fighting for awhile,” Brendon says. “But I knew no matter what, we were going to get him.”

Brendon climbed back up the embankment where a crowd had gathered to watch the rescue – including the woman who called it in and took the photos – with the Brant secured in the carrier, and headed to The Wild Bird Fund, currently located at Animal General on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. There, rehabbers removed the rest of the fishing line from the exhausted Brant – the line was wrapped twice around its left wing and wound tightly around its left leg – and applied a pressure bandage to the wound from where the line cut into the goose’s leg.

From a distance, the Brant resembles a diminutive Canada goose but with a blacker head, neck and chest, and a white, broken collar. Brants are common to the New York area, but the chances of seeing them in the city are slim. These are coastal geese that winter along the shore and then fly off to the high Arctic tundra in the spring for mating season.

The Brant stayed with The Wild Bird Fund until May 6 when Robin, who works for Animal General, took it back to the boat landing at Gravesend Bay for release. Robin said that the Brant, who arrived at The Wild Bird Fund exhausted and stressed, was very impressive as it flew off to join other Brants.

The Wild Bird Fund is grateful for Brandon and other animal rescuers for their passion and dedication to helping New York’s wildlife. When asked what he was thinking that day when he climbed over the embankment to rescue the Brant, Brandon says, “I was thinking of the steps I needed to take…This isn’t a job for me; it’s a passion.”

Keep up with The Wild Bird Fund. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Migration season is in full swing and soon the parks, lakes and rivers will be full of little ones: ducklings, egrets, flickers, robins, kestrels, goslings…a new generation of wild birds is being introduced to New York’s wildlife landscape. At the moment, The Wild Bird Fund is tending to two types of babies: pigeon chicks and baby squirrels.

Bill the Pigeon

Ask anyone who lives in an urban area if they have ever seen a pigeon chick (make sure the person you ask doesn’t raise pigeons or work with them), and the answer will almost always be “no”. In fact, some people think that pigeon chicks are a thing of myth. Well, here he is: the rare and elusive rock pigeon chick, Bill. This little bird is impossibly cute. He gets fluffier by the day, and he bounces and coos while being fed. Bill is just one of a number of pigeon chicks being cared for by The Wild Bird Fund and our volunteers.

Toni, Tony, Tone

Squirrels are funny creatures (and not always in the “ha-ha” sense). I have a friend who once was confronted by a Dairy Queen spoon-wielding squirrel in her kitchen (true story, I promise). Another has tales of squirrels exacting revenge on her barking dogs. But before squirrels mature into their shifty ways of adulthood, they are adorably curious and sweet.

This baby squirrel trio was rescued by Wild Bird Fund volunteer Arina after their nest was destroyed. Arina is bottle feeding and tending to them until they are old enough to be released.

We expect the number of baby birds and animals that arrive at The Wild Bird Fund to increase in the next few months. If you encounter a baby bird, here is a set of instructions to help you carefully assess the bird’s needs and take the right actions. Please remember, whenever you find an injured bird, please contact The Wild Bird Fund if you are in the New York City area, or a federally licensed bird rehabilitator near you.

If you are interested in providing a foster home for some of our birds, please contact us at rehabbers (at) wildbirdfund (dot) com.

Keep up with The Wild Bird Fund on Facebook and Twitter!

Migration is peaking and our rehabbers have been extremely busy these past weeks. We’ve seen a woodchuck, baby squirrels, baby opossums, pigeons, gulls, woodcocks and the following:

A female cardinal that Roy described as “having a bite like a pitbull.”

One of three flickers that we’ve seen so far this spring.

A quail that escaped someone’s dinner plate. (This bird is not indigenous to New York.)

A beautiful scarlet tanager.

A handsome Blackburnian warbler.

And, of course, the usual suspects:

Keep up with The Wild Bird Fund on Facebook and Twitter.

If high fashion had a bird mascot, it would have to be Rachel, the white Fancy Pigeon. Rachel is a Sattinet: She has large, round eyes and a small pink beak, and her feathers frame her head like the turned-up collar of a ruffled coat. She also bears a resemblance to Claudette Colbert.

We are looking for a home for Rachel. She has a sweet disposition, and likes to fly around and pose on desks and bookcases. She does has one special need: Rachel’s top and bottom beaks are crossed, so her top beak has to be filed every two weeks.

If you can open your home to this pretty lady, please let us know. And if you have room for two pigeons, Rachel has grown fond of another fancy pigeon at The Wild Bird Fund, a handsome, copper-colored male we’ve been calling Romeo.

To inquire about Rachel – or to find out how you can be a bird foster – please contact The Wild Bird Fund at 646.306.2862 or rehabbers (at) wildbirdfund (dot) com.

Keep up with The Wildbird Fund! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!