There’s always a lot happening at the Center. We hope you’ll consider becoming a volunteer or giving us your support in some other way. Call the Center or contact us if you have questions or comments and we’ll try to respond as soon as we can.  You might also want to bookmark us for easy access to the latest news.

Raptor Ambassadors appearing at the 2011 Federal Junior Duck Stamp Design Celebration

CornerStone Gardens
23570 Arnold Drive, Sonoma

The raptor ambassadors of The Bird Rescue Center and their handlers will be present at the 2011 Federal Junior Duck Stamp Design Program (California Contest judging) on March 25-26 from 10am to 5pm.

Sonoma Birding is hosting this national event in Sonoma Valley at CornerStone Gardens, 23570 Arnold Dr. Expert judges will select California’s “best of show” on Friday afternoon March 25th for five age groups K-12. National winners will be announced on April 15th.

A festival with art, activities and displays is slated for Friday and Saturday to celebrate the 2011 winners and the mission of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The event is free to the public. For more information call 707 939-8007.

Past news of interest

Join us for the Fall 2010 Raptor Lecture Series Natural History of Raptors
by Alida Morzenti,
former Director of the UC Davis Raptor Center

Church of the Roses
2500 Patio Ct, Santa Rosa Patio Ct. and Hahman Dr. in Montgomery Village.
Parking available across from the Church in Lucky's parking lot

Don’t miss this fascinating and informative five-part lecture series (each lecture covers different material) on the natural history of these unique birds presented by Alida Morzenti, president of The Bird Rescue Center and retired faculty member at UC Davis, and one of the founders of The UC Davis Raptor Center.

A well-known and sought after expert in the field of Raptor Biology, Alida enhances her lectures with slides and stories from her decades of experience working with raptors. The lectures will cover migration, identification, natural history, husbandry and falconry.

Please note: Attendance is mandatory for all those interested in attending the Raptor Education Program classes to learn to handle The Bird Rescue Center’s resident raptors. Contact the Center at 523-2473 for more info.

Spring 2008 :: 5th grader raises $300 for the Center
This was received via email by our Education Coordinator, Mary Ellen Raynor:

Dear Mary Ellen,

A few weeks ago when my kindergarten class received a visit from two of your owls my fifth-grade daughter was getting ready to do a book report for her class. The book she had read is Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat and she loved his stories of caring for his two young Great Horned owls. We decided to visit the Center on the following Sunday for the open house and she quickly decided to incorporate your facility into her report.

She took pictures of volunteers handling the owls and created a presentation for her class which explained the purpose of the Bird Rescue Center and asked her classmates if they would help her raise enough money to have an owl visit. The idea quickly gained momentum for her and she decided to send e-mails and make phone calls to as many of her friends and family as she could think of, asking for donations and explaining what she knew of the Center’s operations and goals. The response thrilled her; she very quickly raised nearly $300.00! She was amazed that people that she didn't even know were willing to send money and has created quite a stir in the classroom. One student arranged with his mother for her to match his donation and he decided to donate his whole allowance so that when his mother doubled it the amount would be so much larger!

She is excited about the prospect of having the owls come to her class but is even more delighted with the money that she knows will help the birds she visited that Sunday.

We look forward to hearing from you regarding the visit from your volunteers. Thank you for coordinating the schedule for us!

Sincerely,
Maureen Murdock

Rare Frigatebird rescued in Healdsburg

On January 5th, a starving and storm-tossed Magnificent Frigatebird, a species normally found no further north than Mexico, was rescued from a tree by a BRC volunteer and Healdsburg Animal Control officers, and ferried to the International Bird Rescue and Research Center (IBRRC) in Cordelia for treatment. Identified as a juvenile, the bird had a wingspan of nearly seven feet. It did recover and was transferred to a facility in Southern California. Last month it was successfully released into the wild off the coast of Southern California.

The full story with photos appeared in the Winter 2008 BRC newsletter sent to all current members.

The Center assisted with oiled birds from the San Francisco Bay oil spill

The Bird Rescue Center worked in conjunction with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. As we received calls about oiled birds, trained field rescue volunteers were dispatched into the field, rescued birds, provided any needed supportive care, safely delivering them to the Oiled Wildlife Care Network’s International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) in Cordelia.

The Cordelia facility is well funded just for this purpose, with the paid, trained staff required for properly treating these birds and the specialized facilities for housing the birds after they were cleaned. Their care and facility gave those birds their best chance of a complete recovery and eventual release.

We work closely with IBRRC, following their guidelines as to how to proceed to help maximize each bird’s chance of recovery and release.
Important: if you see an oiled bird, do not approach or pick it up, but call us right away at 707 523-2473.