Many people are frustrated by not knowing what to do when they come across a bird that has hit a window, been caught by a cat, or is starving and weak. Learn Bird Care came about to fill that need by training people to help rescue and rehabilitate wild birds. Our aim is to give people the background knowledge and skills to be able to capture, handle, give first aid and support to a sick or injured wild or pet bird. The birds need you!
Wild Bird Rescue 101 is an online course that has been many years in the making and we are very proud of it. Mandy Robertson and I formed a partnership to create Learn Bird Care after several years of running small workshops teaching basic skills in the North Island of New Zealand. Our very first course was held at the rehabilitation centre run by Mandy and the Wild Bird Care Charitable Trust in Whitford, Auckland in 2014. We didn’t then foresee how popular the courses would be: to date over 300 people have attended one or more of our small, personalised courses.
Since that first training, we have held between 1 to 5 courses a year and they have been attended by people from all walks of life. From keen teenagers that love wildlife to retired persons wanting to volunteer some time to a good cause. Also, government employees, qualified vets, vet nurses and students and others who are just plain interested!
After a few years, enquiries started to come from all over the country and we really wanted to be able to reach more people. We also found the biggest problem with the practical courses is running out of time – there is so much to learn! At the time I was working part-time teaching and we came up with the idea of creating online courses. Having courses online would enable us to cover greater areas and give you, our followers, the opportunity to take a course as a stand-alone, where you can complete it in the comfort of your own home and at your own pace. You could also elect to combine it with a practical workshop at a later date, which would give more time for practising hands-on techniques.
With our first two courses now online, this is a really exciting time for Learn Bird Care!
Each course we create has videos, downloadable reference guides, quizzes, beautiful photos and other media to help with your learning. You can run through our free Introduction to Wild Bird Rehabilitation course or check out the paid course Wild Bird Rescue 101. We aim to provide fantastic value for money and help get you started in one of the most rewarding ventures in life. Believe us when we tell you…the joy of releasing a rehabilitated bird back into the wild makes all the effort worthwhile!
Written by
Dr Janelle Ward
Wildlife Veterinarian
(All photos are the copyright of Wild Bird Care-NZ)
Learn Bird Care was co-founded by Dr Janelle Ward and Mandy Robertson. Learn Bird Care offer specialist online courses on wild bird rescue,1st aid and care.
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