Birding

Happy Fourth – Support Your Local Rehabber!

July 3, 2015 by Suzie 1 Comment

No, these are not highly-trained nestling Blue Jays posing artfully on an American flag. They’re just really cute orphaned Blue Jays who were raised and eventually released by Kim Doner of WING-IT in Tulsa. And Kim – besides being a great rehabber – knows how to Photoshop.

It’s summer, so rehabbers all over the country are being deluged with babies as well as the usual injured adults. These saintly people are are stressed out, sleep deprived, and working insane hours, but they somehow manage to stick to the feeding/medical treatment schedules and give all kinds of wild creatures a second chance at life.

Please – help them!

Google your town, county, or state, find your closest wildlife rehabilitator, and send them a donation. Ask if they need help. Why not celebrate the 4th of July by helping the struggling wildlife (and wildlife rehabbers) of our country?

Written by Suzie

Suzie Gilbert is a wild bird rehabilitator whose shameful secret is that on more than one occasion she has received a female LBJ, or a fledgling whatever, and has been completely unable to ID it. Luckily she has birder friends who will rush to her aid, although she must then suffer their mockery. She is the author of her bird-rehabbing memoir Flyaway (HarperCollins) and the children's book Hawk Hill (Chronicle Books). Her recent suspenseful, bird-filled adventure novel Unflappable (Perch Press) was selected by Audubon Magazine as one of their Three Best Summer Reads of 2020. She lives in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley and is always up for a good hike.