VOLUNTEER
Do you love birds? Do you want to help save lives? Are you looking for ways to contribute to your local community and environment?
We'd love to have you join our team!
Our work is typically conducted by over 120 trained volunteers who work under the supervision of a small professional staff and are assisted by licensed veterinarians. Volunteers contribute over 20,000 hours annually! The Bird Rescue Center has a variety of different volunteer roles throughout the year for you to contribute to. Many Volunteers contribute to more than one opportunity.
Requirements for any BRC Volunteer role:
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Up-to-date tetanus vaccine
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Ability and willingness to use our online scheduling system
Rehabilitation Clinic Volunteers must be 13 years or older. All other departments must be 18 years or older.
Volunteer shifts are 4 hours long.
*These 3 roles all entail working with live and dead rodents, insects, and/or mealworms for feeding
Rehabilitation Clinic
In this role, Volunteer tasks include but are not limited to: general husbandry and direct patient care, food prep and diet distribution, enclosure cleaning, enrichment, sweeping, mopping, laundry, collecting greenery, etc.
If you are interested in helping out with the clinic, but aren’t comfortable with direct bird contact, there is a Clinic Cleaning and Support role that just involves sweeping, mopping, laundry, collecting greenery, etc., without direct bird contact.
Both of these clinic roles require a commitment to at least one shift per week during our baby bird season (April-Sept). These roles are amazing learning experiences that can be a deeply fulfilling way of contributing to something meaningful. This life-saving work is fast-paced, physically demanding, and requires a lot of multitasking.
Our busiest time of year is our baby bird season (April-Sept). This is when we need the most Volunteer support in our clinic.
Training for Rehabilitation Clinic Volunteers happens once a year in the spring.
Raptor Hospital
This role entails much of what the Rehabilitation Clinic roles do, with additional specialized training to work with patients requiring specialized raptor handling.
Training occurs once a year in the winter.
Ambassador Education
Ambassador Educators attend events both on and off site with our Ambassador Birds, holding the Ambassadors on their fist, and speaking to the public (sometimes giving presentations) about each bird and the importance of their role in the ecosystem.
In addition to educating the public, our Ambassador Educators and Caretakers are responsible for general husbandry, which includes but is not limited to cleaning and maintaining enclosures, prepping and distributing diets, supporting staff during exams, and providing enrichment to Ambassadors.
This role requires extensive training to hold and travel with our Ambassador Birds and educate the public on wild birds and BRC.
Training occurs once a year, timing TBD
Outreach Educators
This Volunteer role entails attending events, setting up tables and displaying materials according to BRC guidelines, chatting with the public to educate them about BRC and wild birds, and, for those who are interested, giving presentations.
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Trainings available at various points throughout the year.
Front Desk Reception and Intake
This role is responsible for answering phones, coordinating rescues, drop-offs, and releases, as well as facilitating the intake process of our patients. While this is primarily a tech-savvy desk role, it does require a lot of getting up, standing, and walking around our campus. During our busy season, you can really get your steps in!
Training occurs once a year in the spring.
Field Rescue
Our Field Rescue Volunteers help transport birds to and from BRC, picking up birds from finder locations all over Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Lake, and Mendocino counties, and sometimes transporting out as far as Fairfield. This role is on-call as needed. You can choose your availability, although this role is not suitable for people with only occasional or very limited availability.
Trainings available at various points throughout the year. There is optional training to capture and directly handle birds.
Handy Helper
This role is a special projects role. It often entails yard work, construction, dump runs, and other maintenance tasks, but it can sometimes entail sewing, plant care, and any other special project that may arise.
No formal training required.
Interested in volunteering? Click the button below to let us know, and we’ll be in touch soon to share available opportunities.
We care for state and federally protected wildlife. We have been granted permits by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife services to rehabilitate and care for native birds. We are required to uphold and enforce all laws and regulations that protect wildlife and govern our work as rehabilitators.
Please note: volunteering with our organization does not grant you permission to care for wildlife on your own.