International Bird Rescue Research Center

Cosco Busan ship pilot gets 10 months in jail

2009-07-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

This week a federal judge finally sentenced the ship pilot to 10 months in prison for his responsibility in the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in the San Francisco Bay that caused widespread bird deaths.

Capt. John Cota, 61, of Petaluma, CA is the first ship's pilot in U.S. maritime history to be sent to prison for a shipping accident.

During a brief statement at the end of the hourlong hearing in Federal court Friday, Cota apologized to the judge and the public for the harm he had caused.

"Pilots view themselves as protectors of the environment," he was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle story. "That's why it is painful to have played a role in an accident that has damaged it."

The ship's pilot was helping guide the Cosco Busan container ship out of San Francisco Bay when it struck the SF Bay Bridge in heavy fog on an early morning in November 2007. More than 50,000 gallons of bunker crude spilled into the bay and spread to area beaches.

In sentencing Cota, Judge Illston told him the jail time reflects lawmakers efforts to punish criminally negiligent parties following the horrific Exxon Valdez spill.

Following the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, the tanker's captain, Joseph Hazelwood, was fined only $50,000 but did't spent any time in jail.

During the Cosco Busan spill thousands of birds were killed by the fast spreading spill. IBRRC working with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), helped rescue and rehabilitate more than 420 birds that were returned to the wild.

Read more: San Francisco Chronicle story

Also see: After the Cosco Busan spill

Photo of the Week: Green Heron

2009-07-15T22:46:00.001-07:00

Still plenty of baby and juvenile birds coming into IBRRC's San Pedro bird Center - this Green Heron is currently being fostered in an outdoor habitat, complete with several branches to climb and perch on, to promote correct foot development.

According to Cornell Lab's All About Birds: The Green Heron is small, stocky wading bird, and is common in wet spots across much of North America. It can be difficult to see as it stands motionless waiting for small fish to approach within striking range, but it frequently announces its presence by its loud squawking.

Read more: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green_Heron/lifehistory

Mysterious sea-going goo causing alarm in Alaska

2009-07-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

A giant mass of goo has been spotted drifting through the Chukchi Sea in Alaska.

Hunters first noticed the slime early last week, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The substance is dark and thick and can be seen for miles in the sea.

The U.S. Coast Guard is sure the mystery gunk is a biological creation and has ruled out an oil spill or hazardous substance.

The odorous substance, which has been described variously as "goey", "gunky" and "hairy" has been also been found of the coast of Barrow, 72 miles north east of Wainwright.

Read more: Alaska Daily News story

Video of Week: Baby Pied-billed Grebe

2009-07-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

This baby Pied-billed Grebe has been with us a couple of weeks. It came to us when it was only a day or so old. It is growing fast and weighed 34 grams this morning. Its
current home is an incubator in ICU at IBRRC's Fairfield, CA bird center.

In the wild baby grebes will take short swims and then climb onto their mothers back for warmth and protections. This bird spends much of the time snuggling into a soft feather duster when not swimming. A small mirror placed next to the feather duster allows him to see himself, thereby socializing with another grebe.

During the day the chick is fed in its own small pool where we feed him tiny pieces of smelt and live minnows. When it is put into the pool, the chick immediately defecates, just as it would in the wild, when it would jump off his parent's back and into the water. He swims around and is fed.

Soon it will be allowed to swim in larger and colder pools and eventually move to outside pools once our rehabilitation staff determines that its ready to move outside. Once the bird is deemed releasable it will be federally banded and released into the Suisun Marsh.

The Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps, order: Podicipediformes, Family: Podicipedidae) is a pelagic bird, spending all of its life in the water.

New DAWN commercial hits the TV airwaves

2009-07-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

A new DAWN television ad is hitting the airwaves this month. The commercial was filmed in May 2009 at the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center using IBRRC staff from San Pedro. (See it above via YouTube)

The ad touts the use of the popular dishing washing liquid in helping clean oil off birds and other wildlife. It's beautifully done piece and hopefully the ad will stir folks help us with a purchase of DAWN.

The specially marked bottles of DAWN are on store shelves now and for every bottle purchased, DAWN will donate 50 cents to IBRRC and 50 cents to the Marine Mammal Center. You'll need to "register" your bottle on DAWN's website. They just want your bottle ID, your zip code and the store where you purchased the DAWN.

Ready to activate your donation? Go to Dawn Saves Wildlife

This campaign helps both wildlife groups with much needed funds. Its main focus, however, is to raise awareness of the problems marine wildlife face.

Here at IBRRC we've been using DAWN for three decades to safely clean birds and other wildlife of oil.

See ad also on the DAWN site: http://www.dawn-dish.com/en_US/savingwildlife/video.do

IBRRC, DAWN to make splash on TODAY show

2009-07-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

The DAWN Everyday Wildlife Champions gets its big launch this week in New York. On Wednesday, July 8th IBRRC’s very own Jay Holcomb will be appearing on the NBC Today television show along with Dawn celebrity spokesperson, Minnie Driver. The pair are scheduled to appear in the fourth hour (10-11AM) with Kathie Lee and Hoda Kotb.

IBRRC and the Marine Mammal Center are working with DAWN to promote the new program that will contribute to each organization for every DAWN bottle purchased.

The specially marked bottles of DAWN are on store shelves now and for every bottle purchased and activated, DAWN will donate 50 cents to IBRRC and 50 cents to the Marine Mammal Center.

You'll need to "register" your bottle on DAWN's website. They just want your bottle ID number, zip code and where you bought the DAWN.

Ready to activate your donation? Go to Dawn Saves Wildlife

Good news for at least one Caspian Tern

2009-07-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

We have some good news to share this week. On July 1, 2009 we received word that one of the Caspian Terns chicks that IBRRC staff and volunteers nursed back to health in 2006 was spotted recently at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands colony near Huntington Beach, CA.

This banded bird was one of two dozen baby terns rescued after their nests were washed away by crass barge workers cleaning structures in the harbor. The spotted tern also appears to be a breeding bird. (Note: Photo above from release in 2006)

Background

Many people may remember that in the summer of 2006, approximately 2,000 Caspian and Elegant terns nested on two empty barges in the Long Beach, California Harbor. The colony was the northernmost breeding colony in the world and the first recorded colony established on barges. News of the rare colony spread quickly and stories began appearing in newspaper, television and birder blogs.

On June 28, 2006 IBRRC received urgent reports of dead baby terns washing up on some beaches in Long Beach. Our rehabilitation staff immediately went to investigate and found over 300 mostly dead baby terns, some only a day old, littering the beach. 13 live baby terns were rescued and rushed to our center in San Pedro. It was clear that somehow these birds were pushed off one of the barges! News crews recorded the crime scene while USFWS and California Dept. of Fish & Game began investigating.

The next night, Thursday, June 29, the second barge of terns was moved and all the baby terns from that barge were again swept into the harbor. On Friday morning hundreds more dead and dying tern babies littered the same beach. Our staff responded again. All in all a total of 24 baby terns were rescued alive and 405 dead baby terns were collected and kept as evidence.

It was a tragic and heartbreaking ending to what had become a thrilling sight for everyone who saw the thriving colony. IBRRC staff cared for the live birds and also took on the gruesome task of counting every body as evidence. (Migratory birds are protected by both state and federal laws and animal cruelty is a felony in California.)

We ended up raising and rehabilitating ten elegant tern chicks and 15 Caspian tern chicks. Six weeks later the elegant tern chicks had caught on quickly to feeding on live fish and grew to be strong and capable hunters; but the Caspian terns continued to beg and did not feed as aggressively as the elegant terns did. Tern biologists told us that it is typical for them to act lazy and beg to their parents for long periods of time. The decision was made to release the two species separately, at two different locations.

On August 14, 2006, nine elegant terns were released at Cabrillo beach, where other of their species were feeding. They had been fitted with double bands, one Federal and one color and also had been marked with a bright green dot, so birders could easily identify and report the sighting of them.

The bird seen at Bolsa Chica had been released at the Salton Sea with the rest of the chicks on August, 19, 2006. We worked with tern biologist, Kathy Molina, who banded the chicks with both with a service band (# 925-76178) and an alphanumeric band (C-45). This bird was missing the plastic alphanumeric band at Bolsa Chica, which is not surprise as they don't always last that long. When released at the Salton Sea, it was of mid-weight and spotted hanging around for a week afterwards, then it wasn't seen again.

The following Saturday, the 15 Caspian Terns were driven to Salton Sea where thousands of their species were nesting, feeding and their was an abundance of small fish to feed on. We felt that being among other Caspian’s would give them the best chance of survival.

The company charged for pushing the terns chicks off the barge admitted their crime and said that they wanted to clear the barge decks so that they could fire off fireworks for the 4th of July. In 2008 the company was found guilty of cruelty and was only given a $15,000 fine that went to the National Wildlife Federation. IBRRC was NOT REIMBURSED for a single penny of the $30,000 plus that it cost us to pick up the dead birds, save them, rehabilitate the live chicks, work with agency people to build a case and deal with the emotional effects of this tern massacre!

Looking for the silver lining

This is a significant sighting, three years later, and although it is only one bird it implies that more may have survived and that our techniques in rehabilitating tern chicks works. The tern colonies in Long Beach Harbor have since taken up nesting on a good landfill area in the harbor and seem to be doing well.

The silver lining to this story is that at least one these chicks has made it. We can assume and hope that others may have survived as well. IBRRC bands all its released birds and receives less that a 1% sighting of banded birds.

From our website in 2006: Rare tern colony decimated

Photo of the Week: Thriving juvenile Killdeer

2009-06-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

A member of the public brought this orphaned baby bird into our bird center in Fairfield, CA on May 27. It weighed only 12 grams. Today he weighs 60 grams, and will be released as soon as he can fly.

From the plover family, Killdeers are common to farmlands, lawns, golf courses, athletic fields, and parking lots. They are useful to farmers because it has a large appetite for pests. Killdeers are classified as shorebirds, although they are often found some distance from water.

If you can help IBRRC with volunteer time, a donation or just a good word, we'd love to hear from you. http://www.ibrrc.org/donate.html

Thanks for your support!

Boston bird lovers' obsession: Photos of hawks

2009-06-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Near perfect Saturday morning video story from the Boston Globe on John Beattie, who photographs red-tailed hawks on Beacon Hill.

Read the full story in June 20, 2009 Boston Globe

Big help: DAWN's Everyday Wildlife Champions

2009-06-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Want to help us save more birds? Checkout the new DAWN "Everyday Wildlife Champions" program that is getting underway this month.

It's easy: Buy a bottle of DAWN dishwashing liquid at your market this summer, register it online and viola! IBRRC and the Marine Mammal Center in California split a $1 per bottle.

The two wildlife rescue organizations can collectively raise up to $500,000 in this program. And with the current economic climate, every dollar counts. Please won't you help us? Cleaning dishes never felt so good!

You'll need to "register" your bottle on DAWN's website. They just want your bottle ID, your zip code and the store where you purchased the DAWN.

Details at www.dawnsaveswildlife.com

Also see the IBRRC website for more background on our 30 year partnership with DAWN

Join Minnie Driver on DAWN's new Facebook page

2009-06-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Join actress Minnie Driver on Facebook and others as they connect with the DAWN "Everyday Wildlife Champions" program. The promotion contributes 50 cents to IBRRC if you buy and register your purchase.

"Marine wildlife preservation is a significant issue to me, and I’m always looking for ways to become more deeply involved," says Driver. "I have partnered with Dawn® and Everyday Wildlife Champions™ to further raise awareness for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation."

DAWN is continuing over 30 years of support for wildlife rescue efforts through their national program called “Everyday Wildlife Champions.” This program will allow consumers to become part of the movement to save and preserve our delicate marine ecosystem and the animals that call it home through their purchase of a bottle of Dawn.

With your help, IBRRC and the Marine Mammal Center in California can earn up to $250,000 each in this program to help save more animals.

So get involved and do a good turn. Join the Facebook page now: www.facebook.com/dawnsaveswildlife

New video on rescued cormorant chicks & eggs

2009-06-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

After being plucked from a huge utility towers in the South San Francisco Bay, double-crested cormorant chicks are being reared and eggs incubated at IBRRC's bird center in Northern California.

This is the second time we have raised and rehabilitated baby cormorants from eggs. Last year, we raised a small batch of cormorants and had about a 60 percent release rate of wild, healthy juvenile cormorants.

One of our longtime volunteers, Jean, shot this video. Here's her description:

In the beginning of the video, you can see our large egg incubator. Next you see the youngest chicks, several days old, being fed in an incubator in our ICU unit. They are born naked and blind, but now their eyes are beginning to open. To avoid habituation with humans, we put on a black cape before we feed the chicks. As the one behind the camera, I am also wearing a cape.

The next video clips show increasingly older chicks. The oldest ones in this video were taken from an outdoor cage in a special section of our Pelican Aviary to one of the inside cages, where they will spend the night.

Two ducks recovering after "plastic surgery"

2009-06-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

This spring, IBRRC's San Pedro facility took into care two female mallards with head injuries sustained during breeding. Mallards are known for their aggressive mating practices, during which females can become injured or even drown.

Both mallards had extensive trauma to the scalp, with few to no remaining feathers. The skin had become jerky-like and attached to the skull. This tightened area suffered reduced blood flow, which created a risk of infection. In addition, the bird's vision was occluded due to tension pulling the lower eyelids upward. Without full vision, a mallard is seriously disadvantaged in the wild.

In a procedure akin to "plastic surgery for ducks," Dr. Heather Nevill and IBRRC staff gave the girls a new lease on life. Called a "sliding advancement flap," a portion of skin on the head is surgically loosened and pulled forward, allowing blood supply to return and the bird to regain normal use of its eyelids.

The birds are currently recovering at IBRRC and at the end of their rehabilitation will be released to the wild.

Heather Nevill, DVM, is a clinical veternarian and research coordinator for International Bird Rescue Research Center.

20 years later: Finding oil from Exxon Valdez

2009-06-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Time Magazine has a story worth reading on the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The piece chronicles scientists studying the remnants of the 11 million gallon spill in the Prince William Sound:

...Here, on Death Marsh, Mandy Lindberg, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Alaska's Auke Bay, turns over a shovel of sand and broken rock to reveal a glistening pool of brackish oil. The crude can be chemically typed to the Exxon Valdez, and more oil can be found beneath the beach at Death Marsh and at a number of islands around the Sound. "I wouldn't have possibly believed the oil would last this long," says Lindberg. "Studying the spill has been a great learning experience, but if we had known in the years after the spill what we know now, we would have been looking for oil much earlier."

See more: Still Digging Up Exxon Valdez Oil, 20 Years Later

IBRRC report of spill response: Crude awakening

If birds ruled the world

2009-06-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

This is terrific article from the Washintonian.com:

If birds ruled the world, here’s what they’d do:

First, they’d advise human operators of mowers, pruners, leaf blowers, and sprayers to back off a little. Then they’d ask you to provide more—more shrubs to nest and hide in, more trees, more berries, more flowers to attract insects and produce seeds, more wet leaves to harbor worms, more twigs for nest building.

And that lawn you work so hard on? Birds don’t get the appeal. Stephen W. Kress, writing in The Audubon Society Guide to Attracting Birds, is even a bit harsh: “Lawn itself, especially expansive rolling fields of it, is one of the most destitute bird habitats on earth.”

But you don’t have to turn your garden into an overgrown tangle to attract birds. Most of the things birds prefer will actually make the lives of gardeners easier and their gardens more beautiful. For example, replacing as much lawn grass as you dare with medium-size shrubs and small trees will save you time and money. Should a dandelion or two flower in the remaining turf, at least the goldfinches will be happy.

FAA: Airports need to take bird strikes seriously

2009-06-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is redoubling efforts to force the nation's airports to take the threat of bird striking aircraft more seriously.

>> Photo (right) from bird strike at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska after Canada Geese struck a USAF training plane. >>

New efforts by the FAA come on the heals of the bird strike that brought down a US Airways jet earlier this year. The collision with a flock of Canada Geese knocked out both engines and forced the plane to make an emergency landing in New York's Hudson River. The plane had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport.

Read the story in the USA Today

FAA Bird strike website

Alcatraz Island Seabird Celebration Day: June 6th

2009-06-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, on Saturday, June 6th, IBRRC will be hosting a booth at the Alcatraz Seabird Event! It’s being held on Alcatraz Island from 9:30 am- 4:30 pm. This event is their 4th annual event and is in celebration of International Migratory Bird Day as well as Ocean Day.

Other environmental groups will be present including PRBO, the Golden Gate Raptor Society and the Bay Area Sea Kayakers, to name a few. There will be docents stationed around the island to talk to visitors about the seabirds found on Alcatraz and an opportunity for visitors to check-out binoculars for their visit.

Seabirds are in the middle of seabird nesting season on "The Rock" and this is great time to check out the historical island

They will have a slide show of island birds and a photo gallery of the wildlife on the island, a scavenger hunt for kids, and visitors can stop by to enjoy shade-grown coffee & organic chocolates.

Public ferries leave from Pier 33 about every half hour, beginning at 9 AM. Alcatraz is about a 20-30 minute boat trip from San Francisco. The event usually sells out in advance check the website for times and reservations: http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/.

For the birds: Buy Dawn, sign-up online

2009-06-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

For 30 years IBRRC has used Dawn to save the lives of birds and other aquatic animals covered in oil. We discovered that Dawn is an effective way to clean and rehab animals—strong enough to remove the oil quickly, but mild on their skin and feathers. And Dawn has been donating their product to us ever since.

And now, Dawn is increasing their support by helping us fund more conservation projects. Through their new Everyday Wildlife Champions campaign, each time you buy a bottle of Dawn and go online to activate your donation using the bottle donation code printed on your bottle, one dollar* is donated to our organization, funding important efforts that strengthen our animal care.

We truly appreciate the continuing support of Dawn. I hope you’ll join us and buy Dawn to help make a difference for animals and the environment.

– Jay Holcomb, Executive Director, International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC)

*Up to $500,000. You must activate the donation online

Fishing line injury study: Pelicans most affected

2009-06-02T00:16:00.000-07:00

A recent study has concluded, not surprising, that pelicans suffer the most fishing line injuries. Over 30% of the animals harmed by fish hooks and entangled fishing line were Brown Pelicans.

The report was published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 45(2), 2009, pp. 355–362. The report was authored by Brynie Kaplan Dau including contributors, Jay Holcomb of IBRRC, Kirsten V. K. Gilardi and Michael H. Ziccardi of UC Davis' Wildlife Health Center.

The study says that pelican injuries caused by fishing gear were most common in the
Monterey Bay region, where 59.6% of the pelicans rescued and admitted to a
rehabilitation center were injured by fishing gear over the 6-yr period.

The highest prevalence of fishing gear–related injury in gulls was documented in the Los Angeles/Orange County region (16.1%), whereas the highest prevalences in pinnipeds (elephant and harbor seals) were seen in the San Diego region (3.7%).

A total of 9,668 cases were included in this study, of which 1,090 (11.3%) were
fishing gear–related injuries.

To reduce risk of injury and death for coastal marine wildlife and people, the SeaDoc Society, a marine ecosystem health program of the University of California Davis Wildlife Health Center, launched the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project in 2005. To date, more than 11 tons of lost fishing gear have been removed from near shore marine waters surrounding the Channel Islands, and hundreds of pounds of recreational fishing gear (such as fishing line and hooks, tackle, and ropes) have been cleaned off public-access fishing piers.

To prevent the reaccumulation of discarded gear at these piers, monofilament disposal stations have been established on many coastal public piers.

The paper was published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. Read the abstract

Rescued cormorant eggs get a chance at life

2009-06-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

When the guano droppings from the Double-Crested Cormorants nesting on electric towers began to cause problems for the local utility in the South Bay region of San Francisco Bay, it had to take action to repair the damage. Unfortunately it had to remove some of the nests and eggs to prevent further damage to the electrical infrastructure.

IBRRC was called in to help take care of the birds and is now incubating eggs and rearing some of the cormorant chicks that came from these 5 or 6 towers. So far 30 have hatched.

Plans are now in place to prevent the birds from nesting on the towers in the future so this will not occur again.

In the mean time we are posting pictures of the birds as they grow from egg to adulthood and are released. This is the second time we have raised and rehabilitated baby cormorants from eggs. Last year we raised a small batch of cormorants and had about a 60% release rate of wild, healthy juvenile cormorants.

Follow their growth and rehabilitation with us. See the original posting with more photos on our Facebook site

Kids team up to help save more birds

2009-06-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

School kids at Andersen Elementary School in Newport Beach, CA took up the challenge with gusto to help International Bird Rescue's life-saving bird rescue work.

Thanks to an Orange County-based youth organization, Team Kids, IBRRC was one of the nominated organizations to benefit from the ‘Team Kids Challenge,’ a month-long program for schools that empowers young people to be ‘responsible, resilient citizens with a passion for service.’ Each week the children are set a challenge to make a difference to a cause, including homelessness, poverty and the environment.

The class was inspired by the story of 9-year-old Haley Gee who collected coins in 2007 to help birds affected by the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay. Each class at the Orange County school collected aluminum cans, plastic bottles and spare change. In total their environmental week efforts raised $90.67 for IBRRC.

To everyone at Andersen Elementary School, on behalf of all the birds we help, thank you for taking up the challenge!

Come fly with us: IBRRC's Facebook page up

2009-05-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

IBRRC has joined the social media world and now has a Facebook page to post information and photos about the work it does saving birds.

If you're a Facebook user, please join us and become a fan. We'll be using the page to further connect all of us in this popular social friends site – especially this summer's upcoming Dawn campaign, Everyday Wildlife Champions. As of this week the new Facebook page has more than 300 fans.

"I see this a great window into the various work we do," says Jay Holcomb, Executive Director of IBRRC. In fact, Jay has posted more photos and commentary on a visit to the Midway Atoll: Disposable Plastic and It's Effects on Aquatic Birds. See the photo album

You can join the page here

We'd like to thank Andrew Harmon, a bird rescue volunteer at our San Pedro bird center, for getting our Facebook page off the ground.

Alien in a Duck x-ray still a hit on IBRRC website

2009-05-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Three years ago this month a unusual image in a routine bird x-ray caused a major stir on the web that is still being felt today.

The x-ray of a injured duck showed what looked to be a facial image. After tremendous media attention, the original x-ray was auctioned off on eBay to help pay IBRRC's ongoing bird care. It was purchased by an online gaming concern: GoldenPalace.com buys eBay's extraterrestrial x-ray

"The alien x-ray is still one of IBRRC's most popular web pages," says Russ Curtis, the bird rescue's Technology Manager and Webmaster. "Our web reports show that in the last year alone the page had nearly 30,000 hits."

From the original web page:

The IBRRC staff discussed if an alien life form was either consumed by or trying to communicate with the people of Earth through the duck, because the center is located in an area of California known for its mysterious crop circles.

IBRRC staff noted that the symmetry of the alien's face is perfect, with an intense grimace, as if it was in anguish after being eaten.

You can also still buy Alien in the Duck t-shirts online through Cafe Press

Change for good: Pennies for Pelicans takes off

2009-05-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

IBRRC's new program, Pennies for Pelicans, is really taking off. Many folks have offered up their loose change to help raise awareness and money to help care for Brown Pelicans.

Pelicans have been brought to our two California bird centers this year in unusually large numbers. They are incredible birds with an iconic face, long bills, unique pouches and they are big eaters. One pelican can eat up to five pounds of fish a day during a rehabilitation!

How to spread the word

• Ask us about special counter top collection boxes.

• Get your school group or scout involved.

• Let other people know that pennies really add up.

The bird center wants to say thanks for all your efforts. Also a big thanks to Northern California volunteer Liz Drummond who came up with the idea. Thanks Liz!

Need more information? E-mail: pennies4pelicans@ibrrc.org

More information about the program is available on our website.

$40,000 reward to catch condor shooters

2009-05-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

Following the deaths of two endangered California Condors this year, a group is offering a $40,000 reward to help find the shooters.

The Center for Biological Diversity this week began distributing wanted posters offering the reward in hopes of finding those responsible for the shooting of the rare birds in the Central and Northern California.

“It’s important to take this campaign directly to these communities,” said Adam Keats, the center’s urban wildlands director. “In these hard economic times we believe that word of the $40,000 reward will travel fast and loosen lips, hopefully leading to a break in the case.”

One of the condors was poisoned by ingesting lead ammunition used by game hunters in the area of Pinnacles National Monument near Salinas, CA.

The California Condor is a stunning vulture that can live up to 50 years. With its 10 foot wing span, it is the largest North American land bird.

The full text of the center's press release is available online.

San Francisco Chronicle: Search is on for California condor shooters

You can also download the wanted posters in English: http://tinyurl.com/condortip or in Spanish: http://tinyurl.com/condortip2.