Cheep cheep. Chirp. Peep peep peeeeeep.
Imagine having 50 baby birds in one room.
Christine Powell knows just what that`s like. She`s a licensed wild-bird rehabilitator. Every spring and summer she takes care of baby birds that have fallen out of their nests. Right now she is very, very busy.
Her hobby started five years ago when she rescued a baby owl that had fallen out of a tree in her back yard. Now she acts as ”mama bird” for hundreds of orphan birds, feeding them, housing them and caring for them until they`re ready to fly away.
Because the birds need so much care all the time, Powell carts them to and from work every day. She is a geology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is a seismologist (one who studies earthquakes).
Different types of homeless birds have fallen into Powell`s care:
chipping sparrows, blue jays, robins, thrashers, mocking birds, finches, woodpeckers, hummingbirds and more.
You can tell Powell is a caring person just by the way she smiles, acts and speaks-softly and gently. This day she is wearing hiking boots, jeans and a blue sweatshirt that reads ”Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Network.”
That`s an organization she belongs to that helps wild animals.
Her office is filled with papers, books, a computer and, of course, birds.
The newborn baby birds are in ”nests,” but not exactly the kind one would find in a tree. Powell makes nests by putting facial tissue in berry baskets, the little green plastic baskets that strawberries come in. That kind of nest is perfect for four newborn birds.
The older babies, who chirp, hop around and have at least a few feathers, are housed in cardboard boxes lined with newspaper and covered with netting.
The first rule with baby birds is always to keep them warm, Powell says. Often she will set heating pads on ”low” underneath the birds` new nests.
Next, the birds need to eat. Baby birds have to learn how to eat, she says, and sometimes that`s hard because they`re not very smart at first. Even if you put food right in front of them, they don`t know what to do with it, she says.
But then ”in two to three weeks they learn the secret,” she says.
”They`re self-feeding. Even in the wild it takes them a long time.”
Powell picks up a baby sparrow and holds it in one hand-firmly enough so it doesn`t wriggle away but gently enough so she doesn`t squeeze it. With the other hand she takes a syringe that holds the food and helps deliver it inside the bird`s mouth.
”C`mon, c`mon,” she speaks to the baby bird. ”Open up,” she says as she taps the tip of the syringe lightly on the bird`s beak. ”Open up.”
Finally, the bird opens its beak, and Powell drops some food down deep.
”The air-pipe hole is near the front, so you have to be sure to get by that,” she says.
The food looks a little bit like watery peanut butter. It is a mixture of plain yogurt, squashed-up bugs, birdie vitamins and cat food.
Cat food? For baby birds?
”It gives them protein,” says Powell, and moisture. That`s what they eat every half hour. Luckily, the birds sleep at night, so Powell gets to sleep, too.
Many people believe that if they touch a baby bird that has fallen from its nest, the parent birds won`t take it back. But that`s not true.
”That is a myth that if you touch them the parents won`t take them back,” Powell says. If you find a baby bird on the ground and know where its nest is, just put it back, she says. ”Always the mother bird is much better.”
Powell estimates that she took care of 400 birds last year.
”That was a big year,” she says with a sigh and a smile. The word is out that she takes care of birds, so animal shelters, veterinarians and other individuals often call on her.
To take care of wild birds, one is required by law to have a license by the state and federal governments.
”There`s incredible need for this kind of work,” Powell says.
Birds usually are brought to her for one of three reasons: They have fallen out of the nest, the parent bird has died or they are injured.
Powell says one of the hardest things is to identify the birds, especially newborns because they have no feathers. ”Each one is really different,” she says.
Does she name them?
”No, never,” Powell says. ”I don`t want to become attached.”
Also, it is illegal to keep wild birds.
Sadly, some birds don`t live. But given the proper care, most birds can survive and be let free, she says.
Caring for birds takes a lot of time and hard work, but it`s worth it, she says.
”Definitely; it`s so rewarding,” she says. ”The trick here is to have as many (birds as are) pleasing and delightful.” Powell`s 10-year-old daughter often helps out; not surprisingly, she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.
After a baby bird is just about grown and healthy enough to fly on its own, Powell puts it in an aviary, a large cage in her back yard, for a week or so.
”Then it`s sayonara (good-bye),” Powell says, out of the nest and into the real bird world. Sometimes she is sad to see them go, but she realizes they will be much happier in the wild.
”It`s fun, it`s a challenge,” she says about her hobby.
As for the birds: ”I love them. They each have a different personality. I enjoy watching them grow, and it`s neat to watch them progress.
”It`s crazy but it`s true that I feel like they`re my kids or something.”
