Local bird rescue center strives for expansion

Elise Wolf has been rescuing injured birds for more than four years. Her bird rescue center, Grebe Acres, located on her property in Sisters, is a work in progress.

Wolf specializes in shore birds and water birds and has a large shorebird aviary plus a couple of song bird aviaries where they can be kept while rehabilitating.

"My goal at Grebe Acres is to have specialized setups for water birds, expand my shorebird aviary and also put up some more aviaries so that I can provide housing for other rehabilitators in Bend who need that," said Wolf.

Wolf and husband Whitney lived in Alaska for four years, then moved back to Sisters in 2010.

"I have wanted to do this kind of work since I was a little girl," said Wolf. "After rescuing a crow that was hit by a car while living in Homer, Alaska, I made the choice to actively pursue my dream."

Wolf assists with wild bird emergencies, rescues and rehabilitations with the goal of release back to nature.

"I trained under Charlotte Adanson and other wildlife rehabilitators for two years, then learned from workshops, self-study and the National Wildlife Rehabilitation Association (NWRA) conventions," said Wolf.

She noted that, "This time of year I get downed grebes, which are the namesake for my bird center."

Grebes are similar to loons; they are water birds that live entirely on water - lakes and rivers in summer, coastal ocean in winter. During their migration they can get pushed down due to a storm or from weakness and will sometimes land on wet pavement thinking it is a river.

"Their legs come out straight behind them like a penguin and they cannot get back into the air, so they get stuck on the roadside," said Wolf.

The most common injuries to birds are caused by windows, cats and cars.

"Bird feeders near windows are a sure recipe for injury," dsaid Wolf. "Birds that get caught by cats need antibiotics immediately to combat the bacteria in a cat's mouth, and their claws are also toxic to birds."

Last summer Wolf received four long-billed curlews from Lakeview. A curlew is a shorebird characterized by long slender down-curved bill and mottled brown plumage. Their parent was killed and a caring soul rescued the eggs and hatched them out at the ranch he worked at.

Shorebirds need special care so Wolf volunteered to take them since the rescue facility in Klamath was already overloaded. The babies were little spotted fuzz balls, with long legs and big feet. In rehab, shorebirds often have leg problems, so their housing and setup is absolutely critical as are their water needs. They live mostly on bugs, so they needed lots of flies, ants, crickets and mealworms.

"They were with me for eight weeks and grew into being large, gracious birds," said Wolf. "At the end they were eating 10,000 crickets a week, and 5,000 mealworms. They were a boatload of work, but were one of the most rewarding experiences I have had yet. They were released at Summer

Lake."

Wolf advises that if you find a hurt bird to gently put it on a soft towel in a box where it is quiet, then immediately call a veterinarian, they can provide you with the number of a local bird rehabilitator.

"The biggest mistake people make with an injured bird is waiting," said Wolf.

For more information email Elise at [email protected] or visit her website at http://www.grebeacres.org.

If anyone here in Sisters Country has an animal story they would like to share, email Jodi Schneider McNamee at [email protected]