Avian Haven Blog

Stories, education, and updates from Maine’s wild bird rehabilitation community.

Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

Every Little Thing: A Film About the Tenderness of Care

This year, Avian Haven has taken in 44 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Some arrived exhausted from migration or from being caught inside a house with nothing left in reserve. Others struck windows, were caught by cats, or were orphaned nestlings no bigger than a bumblebee.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

What will your legacy look like?

October 19–25 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, a good time to take a few simple steps for the people, pets, and causes you love.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

Give Smarter Before Year-End: A Few Strategies to Consider

As the year winds down, many of our supporters start thinking about both their charitable giving and their tax planning. The good news: with a little strategy, the two can work together. Here's a refresher on a few options worth discussing with your advisor.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

How We Work With Threatened Species: Blackpoll Warbler

Last week, a small black-and-white streaked songbird was found on the sidewalk outside 300 Fore Street in Portland, stunned after colliding with a window. It was a Blackpoll Warbler, a bird that weighs about as much as two quarters and was likely beginning one of the most extraordinary journeys in the animal kingdom.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

Turn Your IRA Into a Lifeline for Maine's Wild Birds

If you're 70½ or older and have a Traditional IRA, there's a giving strategy worth knowing about — one that can support Avian Haven's work while easing your tax burden. It's called a Qualified Charitable Distribution, or QCD.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

What a Central Park Owl Can Teach Us About the Wildlife in Our Own Backyards

Four different anti-coagulants. That's what was found in the bloodstream of Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl whose escape from the Central Park Zoo captivated New Yorkers — and whose death one year later has become a rallying cry for wildlife advocates everywhere.

If you haven't heard Flaco's story yet, a new documentary, Wild Inside, tells it in full. We think it's worth your time, and we think it says something important about the work we do here at Avian Haven.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

An Update on the Thick-Billed Murre

There is a Thick-Billed Murre sitting on a beach in Scarborough out of season. You’ve been calling with questions, so we asked a professional for answers.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

What It Really Takes to Bring a Bird Back to the Wild

Every year, our rehab team makes thousands of decisions most people never see: whether a bird will be able to heal from a presenting issue and thrive in the wild, when it's ready for release, and where exactly to let it go. We asked readers what they wanted to know about that process, so I sat down with Senior Rehab Tech Athena Furr to walk through it.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

We're Getting More Calls Than Ever — Here's What We're Doing About It

Every year, thousands of Mainers find themselves staring at an injured, orphaned, or simply out-of-place bird, phone in hand, unsure what to do next. If you've ever made that call to Avian Haven, you know it's the beginning of a process — one built to give that bird the best possible chance. If you haven't, here's what to expect, and why we ask what we ask.

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Paula Crossfield Paula Crossfield

Why We Don't Name Our Birds

At Avian Haven, we don't name our patients — and that this small practice is one of the most important things we do.

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