Top 10 Things We Can Do To Protect Wild Birds

In 1976, following the last in a series of five oil spills in the Delaware River where thousands of animals died, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research was founded to explore the effects of oil on wildlife and to develop research and treatment procedures.

Today, Tri-State Bird Rescue, whose facility is located in Newark, operates a federally licensed, nonprofit avian rehabilitation clinic and cares for 3,000 injured and orphaned native birds annually. The agency staffs a professional 24-hour oil spill-response management team.

If no oil spill occurs, Tri-State's most likely customers are baby birds. They might have an injury if they have fallen from a nest, or they might have been picked up by a cat or a dog, causing soft-tissue injuries. From the incubator, the little birds graduate to a laundry basket or a screen cage, depending on the species, and from there they go to an outside cage.

 Top 10 things to protect wild birds:

• Keep your pets under control, and keep cats indoors.
• Hang hawk silhouettes, decals, or other ornaments in windows to reduce the chance of impact injuries.
• Look before you lop! Check for nests before you trim bushes or cut down trees. Better yet, do your pruning in the winter – it is better for the plants!
• Keep your bird feeders clean.
• Drive carefully and watch the roadsides for wildlife, especially at dawn and dusk.
• Cap your chimney and install an approved clothes-dryer vent cover.
• Use natural or organic alternatives to chemical pest control or lawn care. Many birds die every year from exposure to these chemicals.
• Pick up litter, especially fishing line and plastic six-pack rings.
• Dispose of hazardous household products properly.
• Educate children to respect wild birds and not capture them.