Back to nature this weekend

By Donna L. Riley
Friends of Spruce Acres Refuge
    This one memory may have sparked my interest in learning more about how to rehabilitate a bird or birds to then release back into the wild.
    I can remember my dad bringing home orphaned starlings one spring around 1967-68, when I was around age 11 or 12. Dad had been tearing down an old barn with its owner’s permission, primarily to reuse some of the lumber he could obtain from its demise. During the slow phase of tearing it down, dad had disturbed a bird nest. He watched it for a couple of days but was not able to see if the parent birds were tending to the young. I don’t believe dad could bear hearing the hungry cries of those baby birds in the days following while he continued his demolition project.
    Dad did not like to let on, that underneath his gruff exterior, he had a very soft side for anything in the natural world, and in his own way, was a fierce protector of wildlife and plants. I find it amazing what small happenings can eventually steer the course of events in one’s life as I think this one did for me.
    Dad returned that night with the two chicks and began research at the local library (where research was done before the era of computers) to identify the species of nestlings he had brought home.
    Mom provided an old cool whip bowl while we children (I am the eldest of five) found and retrieved dead or dry grass to fill the bowl with to make a proper nest for our wards. Mom also fed small portions of hamburger to the chicks until my brother Eddie and I could dig a cache of worms as their main course.
    Mom and dad used tweezers to guide the food into their tiny gaping beaks to show us how it was safely done, then turned that duty over to us for the summer. Once full, we’d have a small amount of time to gaze at the baby birds as they slept quietly huddled in their makeshift nest until the next feeding.
    Mom was not pleased to find the babies instinctively knew they had to push their backsides up to and over the edge of their “nest” to “let fly” with their waste so as not to soil the nest. We kids thought this was amazing and hilarious! Kids from all around the neighborhood would stop by hoping to see the young birds perform their duties which kept us all entertained for hours! Mom, in the meantime, found plenty of newspaper to put onto the dresser to keep it clean.
    Over the summer and as they grew larger, we started catching caterpillars, grasshoppers and other fare to improve our starlings’ diets. We drafted and educated our neighborhood friends to help us catch more live things for feeding, and enlisted their help when the fledglings were ready to train to find their own food and fly. We spent amazing hours on our bellies in the grass teaching birds how to catch their moving food with great success, all the while learning valuable lessons ourselves.
    Kitchen chairs were great launching pads for the new “flyers” as they could be spaced further apart as determined each day, by the children in charge of their training.
    Eventually the time came when we were urged by our mom and dad to set them loose to be on their own, which reluctantly we did. They came back to us for a few days for a few “free” meals until finally they decided they did not need us for food any longer.
    The five of us, four girls and one boy, along with a plethora of neighborhood children, learned much that summer, things I never forgot to this day.
    I went from starlings on my shoulders to an eagle on my arm and the feelings dad started within us that year, caring for wildlife, have never left me.
    Please bring your families to enjoy the wildlife and people who take care of them at the A.E. Howell Spruce Acres Wildlife Refuge, 101 Lycette Rd., Amity, Maine this Saturday, August 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
    Free tours will be given this day but donations will gladly be accepted to continue this mission of love, caring for these animals’ needs and teaching our youngsters the importance of wildlife conservation.
    You may also visit us at spruceacresrefugemaine.org or call to make an appointment for a tour at 207-532-6880 and ask for Arthur or Dot.