Spokane Audubon’s Save-A-Bird Team Update
Presented by Mike Borysewicz

Save-A-Bird team volunteers respond to requests from the public for help with injured, sick, or vulnerable birds in the Spokane County area. Mike Borysewicz will present an update on this effort, which has been underway since 2021. Mike is a team co-chair, SAS board member, and retired USDA Forest Service wildlife biologist.

In 2024 team volunteers responded to 370 separate incidents. The team logged 343 hours for this effort, drove 4,368 miles, and received $1,595 in mileage reimbursements. In most cases, team members simply provided advice / coaching to the reporting parties. A total of 90 cases required physical intervention by the team members, usually involving bird captures and transports to cooperating veterinarians. Thirty percent of the cases involved collisions with windows, vehicles, and other infrastructure; 20 percent were falls from nests or fledglings on the ground; 10 percent involved cats or dogs; and nine percent were “abandoned” or “lost” birds. Reported incidents included a total of 56 native bird species such as crows, robins, great horned owls, red-tailed hawks and geese, and nine non-native or domestic species such as pigeons and starlings.

Mike warns that although his presentation has some “happy endings,” it also includes photos and descriptions of injured, diseased, and dead birds.

This meeting will be a “hybrid” – you can attend in-person or virtually online. If participating in-person, please arrive around 5:45pm for our usual meet-and-greet. Our speaker will be presenting in-person.

To participate via Zoom, simply link to the meeting before 6:00pm by clicking here and following the instructions. If you already have the Zoom app installed on your computer, you can directly enter the Meeting ID of 823 3479 6176 and the passcode of 143061.