The nugget., May 29, 2019, Page 21, Image 21

Wednesday, May 29, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
Bird rescue in Sisters celebrates a decade
By Jodi Schneider
Correspondent
Native Bird Care of
Sisters, a nonprofit rescue
center founded by Elise Wolf,
has grown substantially over
the last 10 years. The rescue
center started out in a garage
in 2009 in Homer, Alaska,
and has evolved to become
the full center it is today,
receiving nearly 200 birds
annually.
A tiny shorebird, a
Wilson9s snipe, was Wolf9s
first baby bird, successfully
raised and released into to the
bogs of Homer, Alaska. From
that experience she chose to
dedicate her life to the care of
orphaned and injured birds.
<We are delighted to be
celebrating our 10th year
of wild bird rescue and
rehabilitation,= Wolf said.
<It9s amazing that we have
already come that distance
in time. We9re very happy to
have been able to help all the
birds, animals, and people we
have over this decade.=
Native Bird Care, as a
non-profit, was birthed out of
desperate need in 2016 fol-
lowing the closure of a larger
facility in Bend. In 2016,
nearly overnight, the patient
intake rose from a minimal
20 birds a year to nearly 200,
pushing the physical and
financial abilities of Elise
and husband Whitney. So, a
few dedicated volunteers put
the non-profit together and
Native Bird Care became
a reality as a full-on rescue
center.
The rescue facility offers
specialized care and reha-
bilitation for shore, water,
and songbirds, with the goal
of releasing healthy, hearty,
and sound individuals back
into the wild. Each species is
unique, and the rescue center
must cater to each type of
bird and their appropriate
needs in care and housing.
Sadly, millions of birds
hit residential windows each
year. Yet solutions are not
hard or expensive. Native
Bird Care offers a wide range
of solutions.
Wolf noted, <One of the
easiest solutions for window
strikes is simply to hang
parachute cord on an out-
side rod (there are now out-
side curtain rods) and attach
the bottom so they do not
swing.=
She added, <One of the
best things we can possibly
do for saving birds is to plant
native species. Everyone
has heard about bees and
birds, too, are one of our
most important pollinators
in our forests and wild lands.
Without birds, there would
be no forests.=
Our postcard says,
‘It Takes a Village,’ and
indeed that is true. We
are so very grateful to
everyone who has been
part of this work.
— Elise Wolf
Native Bird Care relies on
public support and dedicates
100 percent of donations to
bird care, housing, or medi-
cal treatment. There are no
paid staff; the facility runs
through thousands of hours
of dedicated volunteer time
and effort.
Wolf said, <One of the
most interesting and unex-
pected aspects to rescue is
the human element. Caring
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for birds is a lot about caring
for people too. People want
to rescue animals in need,
it9s natural for us. So today
Native Bird Care9s mission
is not only about birds, but
also about relieving a per-
son9s stress about finding an
injured animal. Living among
wild birds can be challeng-
ing as well and Native Bird
Care has worked hard to
search out solutions for all
sorts of issues : woodpeck-
ers to swallows to window
deaths.=
Throughout these years
there have been volunteers
and people supporting the
center9s rescue work. But
now it9s a whole team effort
4 from people helping to
transport birds, to handy
folks fixing this and that at
the facility, to those helping
care for the birds. In addition,
the center has only been able
to do what it does because of
individual donors who are
dedicated to helping save
their patients.
<Our postcard says, 8It
Takes a Village,9 and indeed
that is true. We are so very
grateful to everyone who
has been part of this work,=
PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER
Elise Wolf and her husband, Whitney, marked the 10th anniversary for her
rescue service.
Wolf said. <We look forward
to helping our community of
people and birds for many
more years.=
To check out more solu-
tions for bird questions go to
www.nativebirdcare.org
Elise Wolf will be appear-
ing at the Environmental
Center in Bend on Thursday,
May 30, from 7 to 8 p.m.
with a bird talk, <Close
Encounters of the Wild Bird
Kind.=