Injured bird or animal?

It is a natural tendency to try to assist birds that we feel are injured. Many times a bird that appears injured may, in fact, be fine. For example, some baby owls will go to the ground as part of their learning process during fledging. They are acting normally but appear “different” from what we may expect.

The site below provides a comprehensive list of considerations that you might use when you are tyring to decide if a bird needs help and how to best provide help IF needed. The site is specific to Oregon in terms of where to bring injured birds but the decision process and things to consider are universal. Please focus on the parts that are appropriate to your situation.

Native Bird Care and Rescue in Central Oregon

For information that is specific to Washington State, please use the links below.

• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife – How to find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator
• Washington Wildlife Rehabilitation Association
  – steps to take if you find an injured animal
  – map of licensed rehabilitators
• WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital 509-335-0711
• Kettle River Raptor Center (BIRDS OF PREY ONLY)
  Kettle Falls, WA 99141
  509-738-2760 509-675-2760

Conservation Issues

• Proposed Mission Ridge Expansion – Letter to Chelan County – see more Stemilt-Squilchuck Area
• NCWAS letter of support for the Eastern Cascades Working Forest Project at Nason Ridge
• Audubon Washington: 2020 Legislative Priorities
• Proposal for Future Development of Rock Island Ponds – see more Rock Island Ponds
• Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink – see more Global Warming
• NCWA Audubon Petition to Forest Practices Board – see more Northern Spotted Owl Petition to Forest Practices Board
• Upper Wenatchee Pilot Project #49124 – see more Upper Wenatchee Pilot Project
• WDFW Proposed Conservation Projects – letter to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife – see more WDFW Proposed Conservation Projects
• Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Icicle Creek Water Resource Management Strategy, Chelan County, Washington – see more Icicle Creek Water Management Strategy
• Rock Island Ponds Bird Survey Report, NCWAS, Feb. 15, 2023

Documents of interest

• North American Bird Conservation Initiative, 2022. The State of the Birds, United States of America, 2022.
• McCammon, Bruce P., The Wenatchee River Delta – A Brief History of the Land – see more Wenatchee River Delta.
• Horan Vision Paper – see more Horan Natural Area
• Rock Island Ponds Vision Paper
• A compilation of Spanish bird names – a spreadsheet containing Spanish names for common birds in North Central Washington. Multiple sources were used to compile the list.
• McCammon, Bruce P. Christmas Bird Counts in North Central Washington – A look at winter bird diversity on the ancestral lands of the p’squosa-Wenatchi people. 2021

Hummingbirds

The NCWAS hummingbird page provides a consolidated source of important and useful information about hummingbirds in north central Washington.

Mining eBird

• McCammon, Bruce P. Characterizing the NCWAS eBird Dataset, November 2021.
• McCammon, Bruce P. eBird Insights – Investigating the Birds of North Central Washington, August 2022
• A table showing bird species by month in the NCWAS four-county area, 2015-August 31, 2021 (Table 4 in the above publication)
• Infographic showing the relative abundance of bird species in the NCWAS four-county area over the eBird period of record through August 31, 2021. The graphic is organized by taxonomic order, taxonomic family, and species.

Birding checklists for:

• Chelan County
• Douglas County
• Okanogan County
• Ferry County
• Confluence Park
• Wenatchee River Watershed
• Methow Watershed
  
  Birding map of the Wenatchee River Watershed by Dan O’Connor. The map is made available courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

Links to useful information

Movies and Slideshows

• Shrub-Steppe (11:48) Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Conservation Northwest
• Songbirds of North Central Washington (10:00) by Bruce McCammon
• The Beauty of Birds (20:22) by Bruce McCammon

Presentations

• Landscaping for Birds and Wildlife, Betsy Dudash, 2021 (Powerpoint presentation)
• Anthropocene – Environmental Film Series – References