Tag: save your local wildlife

Happy International Volunteer Day!

Today is International Volunteer Day and Wildlife Rescue Association of BC is grateful for the volunteers and their hard work, commitment and service they share with wildlife 365 days a year. Wildlife has a second chance at life because of you! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

There are many components and tasks that volunteers take on from answering the phone, receiving the injured animal, providing health checks, caring for the wildlife, releasing wildlife and transporting injured and orphaned wildlife to name a few. The work is continuous and difficult at times but volunteers get the job done gracefully. Today we honor a few of our volunteers and their experience as Wildlife enthusiasts and volunteers.

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Give the Gift of Hope!

Giving Tuesday is a day dedicated to giving back, supporting the causes that matter most to you. As a wildlife lover, you can give the gift of hope and help injured wildlife from rescue to release.
Right now, we have dozens of animals in care that need your support. Birds like this young Swainson’s Thrush who was admitted to Wildlife Rescue after flying straight into a window. Although birds have excellent vision, surpassing humans in many ways, window strikes are common as birds see open sky and trees reflected in the glass. Hitting a solid pane of glass at full speed can be fatal.

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Have you seen the Northern Saw-whet Owl?

Traipsing around a mature forest near a river, you spot a small, hunkering puffball in the dense foliage. It’s standing stock-still as if any slight movement will betray its presence. You look closer and see two bright, amber eyes staring fiercely back at you.

Later, when you leave the area, you hear a high-pitched, rhythmic tooting that sounds almost like electronic beeping. You were right: you were lucky to have spotted a Northern Saw-whet Owl!

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Birds that Winter in Canada

Every year, 3.5 billion birds fly South for the winter after spending the summer up North. While these birds are strong for enduring such a long trip, the birds that stay in Canada are even stronger, braving storms, snow and freezing temperatures!

Winter brings a shortage of natural water and food supply and limited shelter to stay warm and safe from predators. Here is a look at some of the birds that winter in Canada!

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Birds of the Pacific Flyaway

Many birds—from the largest waterfowl to the tiniest songbird—migrate. These annual journeys are incredible marathons, spanning thousands of miles and taking birds across countries and continents. As you may expect, migration can be a dangerous endeavor for birds. Food scarcity, disorienting city lights, and habitat loss can affect the migratory success of birds. Read more to learn about how birds migrate and what visitors you may see this winter in Metro Vancouver as birds stopover!

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Tips to Protect Local Biodiversity on World Habitat Day

Today is World Habitat Day, started by the United Nations in 1985 to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter.

Balancing wildlife’s needs for habitat and human’s right to adequate shelter can be a delicate one. This year’s theme, Housing For All: A Better Urban Future, reflects this balance, as we must consider environmental factors while creating housing for all.

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Preparing Your Yard for Fall Friends

Your yard provides a rich resource of food and shelter to wildlife all year round. In the fall it can be more so as food and a safe place to live become harder to find. While you might want to... Read More

Wildlife and Wildfires

The wildfires, north and south of Vancouver have, at times, made it hard to breathe and have given us a sense of “unease”. Even though we live in urban settings and the wildfires are hundreds of kilometers away, we still feel the impact of the fires. Wildlfe Rescue provides care to hundreds of birds at this time of year, some displaced by wildfires and many, many injured in window and car impacts.

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Protecting Your Local Wildlife

Every year, approximately five billion pounds of pesticides are used to control pest populations – harming local wildlife on the ground, sea, and sky. Chemical pest control solutions are a common part of our lives – whether it is a golf course, restaurant, or our own home. These different chemicals have a fatal effect on our wildlife – even threatening some wildlife populations. Each chemical may have a different impact on wildlife some fatal, others may bioaccumulate and others may pose no harm.

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The Ultimate Quick Guide to Hummingbird Feeders

Ideally, all hummingbird feeders should be taken down in September of each year before migration begins. Leaving feeders up will not discourage migration, as hummingbirds that migrate are instinctually driven to do so, however; it can alter their behaviors. In some cases, these feeders are left up unknowingly and without proper care, which can ultimately lead to the fungal infections, starvation and death of the hummingbirds which have become dependent on them for survival.

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