Saving nature's 'surplus'

Mother Nature operates each spring and summer with an insurance policy that guarantees survival of the millions of species with which we share this beautiful old Earth. All that's required for a species to keep on going is one female and one male of that species.

Ducks take reproduction seriously: Mallards can lay up to 16 eggs and at least half will hatch. There are so many factors that lead to death and destruction of duck populations they have to lay lots of eggs to guarantee survival of the species.

Before people had the luxury of raising the food we need to guarantee our survival, we ate lots of ducks. Now, we don't need to pillage wildlife anymore. Oh, sure, there are those of us who still have that need to "harvest" wild animals for fun and food, but by-and-large, we look at wildlife with more compassion and concern for their welfare.

And that opens the door to wildlife rehabilitation.

Elise Wolf has wonderful compassion for suffering songbirds needing assistance. Elise is new at the game, recently licensed by the USF&W and State of Oregon. With her own money, and help of her husband, she has built several flight cages on her place to help ensure that her songbird charges have the opportunity to grow normally and be successfully released into the wild.

Veteran animal rescuer Tracy Leonhardy helped get Elise going last year when - for some unknown reason - we had grebes falling out of the sky all around Sisters Country. Some were found standing in the middle of the road, others on people's back door steps. Tracy was overwhelmed with grebes; her bathtub was full and she needed help, so Elise stepped in and loved the work.

Of all the wildlife that requires help, baby songbirds can be the most difficult. When newly hatched birds are found by a well-meaning human, the work begins. Food is the first problem. Almost every songbird we know feeds its growing offspring insects and other arthropods, the protein and other ingredients from them are vital to the survival of young birds.

Elsie and every rehabber and veterinarian working with birds will tell you that the best thing anyone can do when they come upon a baby bird on the ground is immediately try to place it in, or near, the nest it came from. Don't take it home, don't try and feed it, put it back where it came from.

Adult robins will feed any baby robin cheeping for food; it doesn't have to be one of it its own. The same with jays, finches and many other songbirds. Putting a baby bird back into a tree or shrub, especially if the nest is obvious, saves everyone involved a lot of work (and sometimes) heartache. Forget about the "smell of humans," the only bird that can smell anything is a turkey vulture - and they really smell...

The photo above is one of what we hope will be a success story. The baby scrub jay was found wandering around Sisters. It is probably one of the surplus jays produced by mom and dad jay to ensure survival of the species. If it hadn't been found by a human it would probably have been eaten by a feral or outdoor cat.

But Elise ended up with it, and because she is a caring person, and has the necessary permits and tools, she cared for it without the bird thinking it was also human, and like most humans do when they're caring or a wild animal, she named it "Scrubby."

When it came time to release Scrubby back into the wild, she looked for a location with wild scrub jays so the bird could blend in. I have two or three pairs of jays around my place eating baby finches and blackbirds (which jays do to make a living).

As a federal- and state-licensed bird-bander, I banded Scrubby with a USGS bird band.

Even before Elise set Scrubby loose to flit up into the juniper right above my bird feeder, several jays came flying in to see what was going on when they heard Scrubby give the alarm cry. When Scrubby flew into the juniper, three jays immediately surrounded it, all talking at once, "You OK? Who are you? Who are your parents? Where did you come from?" and all other kinds of jay talk.

The last time I saw Scrubby, it went swooping off with its new friends to learn what jays do. Now it's your turn to help. If you spot a jay with an aluminum band on its right leg, please let Elise or me know.

I can be reached by email, [email protected], and Elsie can be reached at [email protected] It would be helpful to know if a rehabber wins one now and then.