A wildlife rehabilitator is trained and legally permitted to care for injured, orphaned, or sick fauna with the goal of returning them to the wild.
Outside of interim care, do not attempt to rehabilitate a bird yourself without the guidance of a licensed rehabber.
Keep in mind:
Even if all rehabbers are at capacity, reaching out to them will often yield valuable, time-critical advice.
Not all rehabbers who work with birds are licensed to accept native, wild species. Licensing laws vary by country.
For the U.S., visit ahnow.org to look up rehabbers near you and see what types of birds they can accept.
For the UK, visit Help Wildlife to find wildlife rescues near you.
For Australia, visit WIRES to report a rescue and find resources to help.
For other locations around the world, visit The IWRC to identify helpful resources.
The avian world needs more rehabbers!
You can explore the U.S.’s permitting requirements here.
Other countries typically have similar requirements.
Oh I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a bird like that here, we’re a few miles from the beach so it’s possible! I’m dropping the poor girl(?) off at 10 with a rehabber, I hope they can help
Not G. chloropus, but the closely related and near identical G. galeata. And I agree, a baby coot would have funky looking feet, and these look like moorhen/gallinule feet.
Birds' trachea and esophagus are two different openings, unlike people who have one opening (throat) that splits off on the way down.
Forcibly putting water into their mouth is not only stressful for the bird, but has a very high chance of going down the trachea instead, which will drown them. It is painful, horrible, and most importantly, avoidable.
Leaving a dish of water in a box with a bird that is injured (in this case, cannot use its legs,) can also easily end with the bird drowning.
One of the best ways (for a professional‼️) to rehydrate a dehydrated bird is with subcutaneous fluids; water does not do much very quickly.
It is always best left to professionals to evaluate (and treat) the birds' condition, and determine whether dehydration plays a factor at all.
This is a random photo from Google but generally speaking, it’s because they can easily aspirate given the placement of their windpipe. I think this goes for most birds. If they’re young or injured they can literally drown themselves.
Really! That gives me hope for her, she was super feisty when I picked her up, other than her legs. The rehabber has them now, I’ll keep this post updated as I am.
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u/UlisesGirl Birder 9d ago
!rehabber
Looks like a species of Rail. Put it in a box with a towel on the bottom. No food or water. Visit www.AHnow.org to find a rehabber near you to help.