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If you find an injured bird or bird that has fallen out of a nest, don't automatically pick it up. If the animal needs to be brought to a wildlife hospital, keep it in a cardboard box with a lid or a closed paper bag in a warm, dark and quiet place until you can bring it to a wildlife hospital. Do not give food or water to any injured or orphaned animals. When in doubt, contact your local wildlife rehabilitation office. A link to a list of wildlife hospitals that are available in the Bay-Delta Region can be found on the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators website: http://www.ccwr.org/resources/region3.htm.

Lindsay Wildlife Museum, located in Walnut Creek, CA has some great information https://lindsaywildlife.org/

Another great resource for bird rescue can be found on The Bird Rescue Center of Sonoma County at http://www.birdrescuecenter.org/rescueinfo.htm

Special info - Oakland Heron Rookery

There a several nest trees in Oakland which result in issues with hatchling black-crowned night herons and snowy egrets that fall out of the nests during nesting season. SFBBO volunteers are monitoring the roosting birds in downtown Oakland, however, sometimes birds are found injured when volunteers are not around.

If you observe injured herons or egrets, please contact Oakland Animal Services who will pick up injured birds and transport them to Lindsay Wildlife Hospital in Walnut Creek. LWH staff stabilizes the birds and their volunteers then transport them to International Bird Rescue for treatment.

"The Oaklandside" published an article on this topic by Sam Lefebvre - https://oaklandside.org/2020/08/04/oakland-save-official-bird-night-heron-developers/
You can also download the app WildHelp which was created by Rebecca Dmytryk of Wildlife Emergency Services

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What to do if you find or see a banded bird

Bird banding is a universal and indispensable technique for studying the movement, survival and behavior of birds. The North American Bird Banding Program is jointly administered by the United States Department of the Interior and the Canadian Wildlife Service. Their respective banding offices have similar functions and policies and use the same bands, reporting forms and data formats.

More information on bird banding in general can be found on the United States Geological Service (USGS) Bird Banding Laboratory website at http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/

Bird specific banding reporting for research projects can be found below:

Caspian terns

Help researchers track movements and study the survival rates of Caspian terns along the Pacific Coast region by reporting the color-bands on the legs of terns, as well as the date, time, location, and activity of any banded terns. Visit http://www.mybandedtern.org/

Black skimmers

Help track movements of young black skimmers that were baded at the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. 2010 Salton Sea birds were banded with TWO BRIGHT BLUE BANDS on the LEFT LEG, and a silver USGS numbered band on the RIGHT LEG. These birds should retain obvious brownish plumage until late into the winter, so 2010-fledged birds should be easy to pick out in a skimmer flock.

If you examine skimmer flocks you will undoubtedly see other banded birds. This study is not interested in reports of USGS metal bands unless you can read most or all of the number (a 3 to 4 digit prefix ending in the number "4", then a 5-digit suffix). Some of the plastic alphanumeric bands placed on skimmers years ago have survived the elements, so if you see a tall plastic band with a letter and two numbers, please report the band color, which leg that band was on, and the alphanumeric combination. You might also encounter birds with other colored bands (black, pale blue, pale green, white, red, pink) and this study would be interested in hearing about those birds.

If you find the blue-banded birds mentioned above, or are able to get specific color band combination or band number information on other birds, please send the following information to Kathy Molina at kmolina AT nhm.org:

- Date
- Exact locality
- Approx. number of skimmers in the flock
- Approx. number of proportion of juveniles in the flock
- Exact band information
- Photos are often helpful as well

Arctic Shorebird Demographic Network Color-marked Shorebird Resighting Report

The Arctic Shorebird Demographic Network (ASDN) is an international collaboration between shorebird biologists who are currently conducting a multi-year study to examine mechanisms behind declines of North American Arctic- breeding shorebirds. The Network collaborators' are color-marking shorebirds at 7 sites in Alaska (Yukon Delta, Nome, Cape Krusenstern, Point Barrow, Ikpikpuk River, Prudhoe Bay and the Canning River) and 4 sites in Canada (Mackenzie Delta, East Bay and Coates Island in the northern portion of Hudson Bay, and Churchill).

Please report color-marked shorebirds observed away from the breeding grounds. Look for marked birds of the following species. To complete reports, please download and complete this resighting report:

American Golden-plover - Pluvialis dominica
Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus
Bar-tailed Godwits - Limosa lapponica
Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
Ruddy Turnstone - Arenaria interpres
Dunlin - Calidris alpina
Western Sandpiper - Calidris mauri
Semipalmated Sandpiper - Calidris pusilla
Stilt Sandpiper - Calidris himantopus
Pectoral Sandpiper - Calidris melanotos
Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus
Red Phalarope - Phalaropus fulicarius
Red-necked Phalarope - Phalaropus lobatus

All ASDN birds are marked with a white (Canada) or dark green (USA) flag and a color band. The engraved flags will have a 3 letter code of letters or numbers, written in white on the green flags or written in black on the white flags, and an additional color band (e.g. red, dark blue, orange, dark green, yellow) below the flag. Most birds will also have three unique color bands on the opposite leg to further facilitate individual identification during the breeding season, as well as a US Geological Survey/Canadian Wildlife Service metal band with a unique serial number.

Inquires about the Arctic Shorebird Demographics Network can be directed to:

River Gates, Network Field Coordinator,
US Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management
1011 East Tudor Rd. MS201
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
(907) 786-3563
hrivergates AT gmail.com

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Audubon Societies Frequently Asked Questions

How can I prevent birds from hitting my windows?
Where can I get plans to build a bird house?
Where do I get information on what to plant for birds?
When should I start and stop feeding birds?

Learn about all this and more on the National Audubon Societies Birds Frequently Asked Questions Webpage: http://birds.audubon.org/faq/birds

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Ohlone Audubon Society

Serving Southern and Eastern Alameda County

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