The many different faces of wildlife rehabilitation

By Hospital Manager, Denys Hemen

Spring came with a bang this year as our nursery exploded with baby birds. California Wildlife Center is the only wildlife rehabilitation center in Los Angeles County that takes in native baby songbirds. We get in hundreds of individuals of many different species….all of which look grumpy. No matter what we do we cannot erase the look of disgust from these birds faces. We hand feed mealworms, waxworms, and crickets for 12 hours a day. Everyone gets a special vitamin supplement daily to help them grow stronger. We add natural leafy branches to the insides of their enclosures. We weigh them all every other day to make sure each bird is properly gaining weight. Still all we get are grumpy faces! It doesn’t bother us though. We just shrug it off because in the end we are all here for one thing…. to see the angry looking little birds grow into beautiful happy juveniles and take off into the sky to be free again.