Alaska WildBird Rehabilitation Center

06/06/2026

Our annual Open House is just around the corner, and we'd love for you to join us for a behind-the-scenes look at the Alaska WildBird Rehabilitation Center. You'll have the opportunity to tour our facility, check out the new bird rehab facilities, learn how injured and orphaned birds are cared for, and meet some of the people who make this work possible.

Tour spots are limited, so we encourage you to reserve yours early. Registering also helps us stay connected with supporters who want to hear more about the birds, our programs, and future events.

If you've ever wondered what happens after an injured bird arrives at our center, this is a great chance to see our mission in action.

We can't wait to see you! Reserve your tour spot today at www.akwildbird.org.

05/19/2026

Thanks to Dr. Snyder for helping this little owl. We will make sure to tell his whole story once he makes it to release. He still has to prove he can hunt in a more challenging situation. Now off to make a mouse habitat in his flight enclosure 😁

With the help of Dr Spotts and AK WildBird Rehab Center, Dr Snyder performed surgery on this tiny 100gram (0.2 pounds!!) saw-whet owl. The owl had sustained trauma to his left eye that even after medical treatment caused permanent blindness and discomfort.

With the owl still able to successfully hunt, Dr Snyder performed a specialized modified surgery to remove part of the damaged eye while keeping the owls facial disc intact. The facial disc, the concentric ring of feathers around the eyes, functions to amplify sound and allows sound directionality. After surgery, his eye pain will be resolved and his facial symmetry will be minimally changed…keeping his ability to hunt intact.

This gives him another chance at life and makes a future release to the wild possible. This is one of the smallest birds this procedure has ever been performed in!! 👏🦉👀🏥

05/09/2026

Only 26 hours left until the close of our Online Silent Auction. Register to bid and check out items here, https://givebutter.com/c/migration-madness-ak-wildbird-auction-va7hsq/auction

I've always wondered what makes the perfect stick? Rhett is very picky, but definitely likes to find his own!! Tis the season for birds to be looking for nesting materials to build and fortify their nests.

The best time to trim trees is in the fall but if you are clearing or trimming trees make sure to observe over several days for bird activity. Birds use snags (dead trees) to nest in their cavities and natural cavities in trees that are still alive.

What species of bird is Rhett (in the below video)?

04/25/2026

Click on the link below to view items and pre-register to bid. All proceeds go to help save injured and orphaned wild birds in Alaska. https://givebutter.com/c/migration-madness-ak-wildbird-auction-va7hsq/auction

03/26/2026

This is the story of an owl who came looking for chickens—but ended up trapped in netting like a fly in a spider’s web.

Thankfully, AK WildBird arrived in time to safely free her, provide treatment, and make sure she was healthy enough to return to her family before spring nesting season.

Encounters like this happen more often than people realize. Wildlife can become trapped in many ways—netting over coops, trap lines, discarded fishing line, buildings, trees, or plastic debris. For these animals, entanglement is incredibly stressful and often dangerous. Even after rescue, they may suffer from injuries, infection, or the physical toll of stress.

That’s why prevention matters. Simple actions can make a big difference:
• Pick up garbage and fishing line
• Check trap lines regularly
• Put chickens safely into coops at night and use deterrents like reflective tape, old CDs, or even a “windy man” to keep aerial predators away
• Call for help if you see an animal in distress

Together, we can reduce these hazards and help keep wildlife safe..

03/04/2026

It is rough living in the wild and while a lot of bird injuries are due to human-related causes, sometimes they aren't. This last week, our volunteer staff extracted a juvenile bald eagle out of a tree. The eagle had caught its foot in the crook of a birch tree about 25 feet up.

Birds feet are made of mostly bone, tendon, ligaments, and skin, and use a counter-current heat exchange system to cool blood traveling to the feet and then rewarm it as it travels back up the leg to the body of the bird. When the blood flow is restricted completely or pinched off, the skin and tissues of the foot will drop to ambient temperature. Once that happens, the tissues die and partial or complete amputation is the only cure. Birds will also tuck their feet one at a time to warm them up in very cold temperatures. With the loss of a foot, this behavior is not possible. Unfortunately, this poor juvenile eagle had broken his leg, and by the time he was extracted from the tree, his entire foot was completely frozen. Our vet was able to humanely euthanize him ending his suffering. Sad day my friends.

03/03/2026

We received a call about someone needing a home for this Ring-necked Pheasant they found (hobby farm home, not your dinner plate!) Please call the center at 907-892-2927 or comment and I will give you their contact info.

03/01/2026

Learning more ways to keep birds in the wild. Our executive director went to the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, national conference this last week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is important to keep learning techniques and updated on current research in wild bird rehabilitation. Some of the lectures and workshops she attended were: In-house Laboratory Techniques, Head First: A Multispecies Look at Traumatic Brain Injury in Wildlife, and the Advanced Skills Wet Lab. A couple of Louisiana State University professors spoke with the favorite title being, "Fixin' and Savin' Dem Critters Down Da Bayou: Using Wildlife Rehabilitation and Evidence-Based Methods to Protect Wildlife in Louisiana." During lunch, she even went and visited Louisiana's Old State Capitol building, and learned about local history, https://louisianaoldstatecapitol.org/

10/26/2025

The Auction is live! Bid early and often to help us support the mission of wild bird rehabilitation and community education, get your holiday gifts and spend that PFD!! Go to www.akwildbird.org to view the auction and sign up for the newsletter. Thanks!

10/22/2025

We will be at this event next Wednesday. Come check it out, it should be fun!