Our first babies have arrived!
It’s official, with the arrival of the first babies of 2022, Baby Bird Season is upon us!
No saying feels more true than “when it rains, it pours” when pertaining to baby birds!
We've been expecting baby hummingbirds since mid-February when they start nesting in the area. On March 4th we received our first, then another, then another—almost one a day since the first arrival. We are now up to a dozen and fully expect more to be on the way!
Since baby hummingbirds need to be fed every 30 minutes and we’re still on “winter hours” for staff and volunteers, yours truly (that would be me!) has been taking them home most nights to do the late-night and early morning feedings. Even though these tiny ones interrupt sleep (and just about everything else!), there is something about those little eyes that strikes deep into my soul and reinforces the critical importance of our work.
While you can't make up for my lost sleep, you can help care for these tiny little babies with your gift today, which will go toward food and medical expenses.
FOR THE LOVE OF BIRDS ART AUCTION
Last year's online art auction was a huge success—we raised $17,000! We've had a lot of requests for a repeat performance, including more than a few requests from the artists themselves! That is why we are so excited to announce our 2nd annual For the Love of Birds online art auction. The auction will take place from April 16th through the 23rd.
We are currently gathering incredible artwork we know you're going to love! For a sneak peek at some of the items, click here.
There's Still Time
If you are an artist and would like to participate in this year's auction, we'd love to showcase your paintings, hand crafts, sculpture, jewelry, ceramics, and more. You’d have the satisfaction of helping save lives and you’d gain community exposure.
If you know any artists, please also share this information with them.
And if you have any items of your own that you would like to donate, we are accepting art donations through April 1st. When you submit your items, please provide a description or short back story, a suggested value, and if you are the artist, a short bio. (If you prefer to remain anonymous, that's okay, too!)
To donate, contact MJ Davis at brcadmin@thebirdrescuecenter.org.
A huge thank you to all artists and art lovers who have chosen to donate to make For the Love of Birds a huge success! And remember, all art donations are tax-deductible. Proceeds from the auction will be used to fund our hospital and programs.
GOOGLE LINK ISSUE Beginning March 12th, we received reports from our wonderful and watchful community that when trying to reach our website through Google, the links were displaying very non-bird-like content. We had been 'hacked'. The hack is restricted to code contained in portions of our website and does not impact any personal data.
The issue isn’t restricted to just the BRC site; it seems to have happened to many sites that use the same web building program. We have been working diligently to correct this issue, but repopulation of the information presented by Google may take days to weeks.
We also recognize this is not the first time in recent history we've had to inform you of website issues. Because of that, we have already begun the process of migrating our web hosting and building program to create a new site—one that runs more smoothly and isn’t as vulnerable to hacking.
This has been extraordinarily frustrating and time-consuming and we apologize for any frustration and inconvenience it has caused you.
Until the migration to the new platform and site are complete, please go directly to birdrescuecenter.org using our website address rather than a Google search to avoid the “non-bird-like content”.
As we celebrate the arrival of our first babies, website issues notwithstanding, I am truly excited to see some semblance of a return to normal here at BRC. We are beginning to welcome more volunteers back to help care for our patients. And we are looking forward to being able to once again hold in-person education events and open houses. While we haven't been able to see our flock in person for so long, we are hopeful that it won't be too much longer before we are able to fully reopen our doors.
Each year writes a new chapter in our history, full of challenges met and expectations exceeded. With you by our side, I have full confidence that this next chapter is going to be amazing!
With all my heart,
Ashton