Helping Native Species

Madrone Audubon has gone on record in support of the Bird Rescue Center's difficult and courageous decision to stop providing rehabilitation services to introduced species. The new policy is consistent with the Bird Rescue Center's mission "to rescue, rehabilitate and release orphaned, injured or ill native wild birds."

As Bird Rescue's President Keith D. Hutchison explains, "European Starlings, House Sparrows, and Rock Doves (domestic pigeons) have flourished in an environment to which they are not native, because they are tough, adaptable, prolific and/or aggressive species. Many of our native songbirds, on the other hand, are being pushed to the brink of extinction, and one of the major factors contributing to this decline is their inability to compete successfully with the aggressive behavior and prolific breeding of invader species. It is environmentally irresponsible to continue releasing these invaders back to the wild--- where they are destroying the very birds that really need our help."

Betty Burridge, editor of Madrone's Sonoma County Breeding Bird Atlas, points out, "It is not just the welfare of the individual bird that wildlife rescue and conservation organizations are concerned about, it is also the viability and welfare of the whole population of the species concerned. For example, when a rehabilitated warbler from a dwindling native species is released into the real world with a huge, competitive, aggressive (and non-native) starling population, the chances of survival and reproduction for the warbler (and the rest of its population) are not promising. If we truly wish to preserve native species, we must not encourage interloper species that threaten to displace them."

Intake volunteers at the Center now must offer other options to people who bring in or telephone about an introduced bird that is in distress. These options are that a person may care for the bird at home according to directions provided by BRC, or the caller can request that the bird be euthanized. Some intake volunteers have resigned, and the Bird Rescue Center badly needs people who understand and support the native species policy, and are willing to help explain it to the public (see below).

An article by Betty Burridge on the importance of preserving native versus introduced species will appear in next month's Leaves.

Oiled Bird Crisis
The Bird Rescue Center in Santa Rosa is the designated triage location for oiled birds found along the Sonoma Coast. This winter's episodic stream of oil-fouled birds has severely strained both volunteer resources and funding at Bird Rescue, and as of mid-February, more birds are still turning up.

Each bird needs to be picked up at the ocean and brought to the Center in Santa Rosa. From here, many of them are taken to the International Bird Rescue Center in Berkeley, which was established by oil companies and specializes in the treatment of oiled birds. This involves a lot of volunteer transport time--- and a lot of cardboard pet carriers, which are used to hold the birds and cannot be reused when the creature is covered with oil.

Please contact Bird Rescue at 523-2473 if you can help with:

• Beach-combing to locate oiled birds.

• Transport of oiled birds.

• Intake and reception at the Center.

Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Bird Rescue Center, Post Office Box 475, Santa Rosa 95402.