She's spent 20 summers rehabbing baby birds
Every spring, as the weather warms and baby birds begin arriving at our door, one familiar face returns to Avian Haven: Abby Everleth.
For the past 20 years, Abby has spent her summers here as a rehabilitation assistant, caring for our adult birds and some of our most fragile patients — the tiny, demanding, endlessly captivating songbird nestlings and other baby birds that flood our facility from May through the summer months. During the school year, she teaches biology at a nearby high school, shaping the next generation of scientists and nature lovers. But when summer comes, she's here — feeding, monitoring, problem-solving, and pouring her heart into birds that most people will never even see up close.
We asked Abby why she keeps coming back. Her answer says everything about the kind of people who make this work possible.
"What I found was something that filled my soul, as cheesy as that sounds," she told us. "Wildlife rehab was a chance to undo some of the damage that I felt like humanity had created, even if it was just on a small scale, one bird at a time."
Abby first discovered wildlife rehabilitation as an undergraduate Wildlife Ecology student at the University of New Hampshire in 2006. She wanted hands-on work — something where she could see the direct difference she was making in an animal's life. What she found wasn't just a job or a volunteer role. It was a calling. When she moved to central Maine for her teaching position, she wasn't willing to leave that work behind. She started volunteering at Avian Haven, and eventually became part of our summer staff. Two decades later, the passion hasn't dimmed in the slightest.
"I'm still completely in awe of wild birds," she says. "There's just something so special and privileged about being entrusted with the care of such vulnerable creatures — you just can't help but be a little wonderstruck at the thought of it."
The birds Abby works with most — songbird nestlings — are among the most challenging cases we receive. They are extraordinarily fragile, with complex nutritional needs and no tolerance for error. They require feeding every 30 minutes during the day, careful observation, and a level of focus that most people couldn't sustain for a single day, let alone an entire summer.
Abby loves every minute of it.
"I love the challenge of caring for young songbirds and the problem-solving it takes to figure out their advanced needs," she says. "A nest of healthy, happy, growing, energetic songbirds, gaping their mouths at me to be fed, gives me the most delirious sense of joy."
And then there's the moment every rehabilitator lives for: release day.
"The thrill of releasing some of the babies I helped raise back to their homes — that's a pretty incredible rush of joy as well."
Abby is one of the many dedicated people who show up for Avian Haven season after season, bringing expertise, patience, and an unshakeable love for the work. But caring for over 1,000 baby birds this spring takes more than passion — it takes resources. Additional staff hours to keep up with demanding feedings. Specialized equipment. Supplies that allow our team to give every bird the individualized care it deserves.
If Abby's dedication moves you the way it moves us, we hope you'll consider making a gift today. Because behind every bird we release back into the wild, there's someone like Abby — someone who showed up, summer after summer, for the love of it.
