Wild Bird Rehabilitation at TriState Bird Rescue and Research in Newark DE

So as promised, here's a more complete rendition of my time at Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, a wild bird rehabilitation center in Newark DE.  Now, some of you who know me better may be wondering "why is Natalie spending two weeks with wild birds?".  Because it's not like I don't like birds, anyone growing up with my father screaming through the house on a daily basis that everyone has to come to the kitchen to see the cardinal outside on the feeder has to like birds.  But after, as a small child, I was devastated when my parents solemnly sat me down to explain to why I couldn't have a pet bird (it went along the lines of "the cats would kill it" which is probably true), I moved on to animals with fur, and in all honesty, never really thought about treating birds, wild or otherwise. 

What prompted me to do this externship was the fact that I have been collaborating with the wonderful folks at Tri-State for the past few years for part of my PhD thesis.  At the point that I was developing my thesis project, I realized that there were very few reports of Toxoplasma gondii (the parasite I studied) in wild birds.  The University of Pennsylvania has a nice relationship with Tri-State as their staff veterinarian, Dr. Erica Miller, teaches a number of elective courses for veterinary students.  I contacted Erica to see if she might be interested in collaborating, and we went from there!  For well over a year, Erica and the rest of the staff at Tri-State collected blood samples from wild birds for me so that I could check them for T.gondii antibodies.  After all the work that they had put in towards helping my project to succeed, I wanted to spend a little time there as well to get the chance to learn a little about wildlife medicine, to see how their organization works, and to give back a little bit of my time to the birds that helped me earn my degree!

So veterinary externs frequently visit Tri-State for two week rotations during their fourth year, although I can imagine that most of them have a little more hands on avian experience than I did.  My first day was a whirlwind of new skills, especially since there were close to 300 birds in house that needed daily care!  I learned to pick up birds (everything from songbirds to raptors), which I thought was an achievement enough for one day, but there was much more in store for me!  What I quickly learned, however, was how translational medicine really is.  I had to laugh when I sutured up my first bird wing (a little song bird with a cat bite); I was using suture thinner than sewing thread!  And the last animal I had sutured only a week before was a horse, using suture that comparatively seemed as thick as my finger!  But the knots are the same, regardless of the suture sized or the animal size, so I quickly got into the swing of things! 

Suturing the chest of a small songbird that was bitten by a cat

 Over the first few days, I got a handle on most of the routine medical treatments that were given through the hospital; from giving SQ or IV fluids to gavage feeding, from taking radiographs to drawing blood.  Our days started at 8 with the volunteer/staff meeting; one of the amazing things about Tri-State is how volunteer oriented it is; the volunteers truly spend hours taking care of the birds and do an amazing job with it as well!  There are also quite a few undergrad interns and then the shift supervisors who keep everything organized!  After the volunteer meeting, the "vet team" which included Erica, myself plus any other veterinary students who were visiting, would help with morning treatments.  After routine treatments, we had a list of birds that needed specific vet checks that we worked through, staying inside for the birds that were still in hospital and outside for the birds that were in flight cages or outside pens.  Most of these outdoor birds were a little closer to being released (which is usually code for "harder to catch and handle".  After we had worked through these, we generally took a lunch break.  Afternoons, a lot of the time, were spent doing veterinary checks on new admits as well as necropsies on any of the birds that died unexpectedly.  In the evenings, we helped with all the medical treatments again and were usually done by 7 pm.  On days that Erica wasn't working, I spent more time just helping out where ever it was needed.  On those days, I spent a lot of time caring for the sick raptors and piscavores.  My favorites were the juvenile Screech Owl with a broken wing, the young Kestrel with panosteitis-like lesions, the trio of juvenile Green herons, and the Great Blue Heron.  During those days, I also spent a lot of time helping out however I could; there were always plenty of dishes to be done, birds to feed, and cages to clean!

The little trio of Night Herons... they kind of looked like muppets :)

Tri-State is also an oil spill center, so they have a team of volunteers and employees who are on call 24 hours a day to respond to oil spills, both locally and all over the world.  In cases where there is a big oil spill, this team travels to the site and spends days, weeks, or months caring for the oiled animals and training local staff.  Other times, animals are sent to Tri-State for care; the stories of having over 100 animals brought in for care are pretty amazing!  But they are also available 24-7 for local, small scale spills that don't even make the news. While I was at Tri-State, we got in a handful of Canada Geese that had been coated with oil.  Because they came in after everyone had left, I got "called in" to help do their intake exam at around 10 pm one night.  On that first night, we got pictures of all the birds, took samples of the oil, gave them IV fluids, Vitamin E, oral fluids, etc.  The next day, they all got washed, a process that takes at least an hour from start to finish!  The birds then stayed in house for a few days before being released again. 

 Here are a few pictures from my time there!

One of my favorite patients; a little Screech Owl with a broken wing.  He had a pin placed in his bone that was removed one of my last days there... After a few more days of having his wing wrapped, he was ready to start flying!

Orthopedic surgery in songbirds is simplified by the fact that we can use sterile needles as pins to hold together broken bones.  These pins stabilize the bone while it heals and allows a bird with a broken wing to fly again! 

One of our smaller patients; this guy had an infected foot that needed soaking twice a day.  The bath was bigger than he was, but it worked!

Another one of the juvenile Bald Eagles.  Three of these guys are in one of the flight cages, just waiting for fall when they can be released with other adult Bald Eagles who can teach them how to hunt.  While in the flight cages, we place "bumpers" on their wings so that they don't hurt themselves if they run into a wall while they are flying around.

Eagle Cam!  The three Bald Eagles can be watched from afar!

Three little baby birds in the incubator.  When little ones come in, they have to be fed every 20 minutes!  It's a full time job when we're busy, and there are a lot of little ones.  As they get older, they can be fed less frequently and moved out of the incubator!