Demand for Le Nichoir’s services is growing rapidly as we know from the steady increase in bird admissions and the thousands of calls we receive each year on the Wild Bird Helpline.
How are we able to keep up? We depend heavily on the public’s support through donations for operating funds as well on the generosity of volunteers who give their time to our bird care and helpline services. This summer we have already benefited from over 2,500 hours of volunteer time, but more is needed. For 2021, we hired additional bird care staff, and have asked our non-bird care biologists to pitch in whenever they can. We also added a full-time helpline operator and a trained volunteer to answer calls 3-4 days a week. When possible, bird care staff are on the phone too! Despite our efforts, the huge demand for our services at this time of year pushes our resources to the limit. We are often unable to provide the immediate response with our helpline service that we have always prided ourselves in.
Our staff works hard to strike an appropriate balance between providing professional care to the birds and answering your calls. We take our work to heart, wanting to help as many people and birds as we can. Although our limits are being tested in many ways, we never lose sight of what is most important: the well-being of the birds. If you are unable to directly get a hold of us, I promise you it is because we are hand-feeding a hungry nestling or examining an injured bird in urgent need of help. We will get to you as soon as we can. Please, leave a message with your name and number so we can provide the answers and information you need.
On behalf of the staff and volunteers at Le Nichoir, thank you for your patience and continued support. With over 1,600 birds admitted since January, this year looks to be another very busy one!