International Bird Rescue has set a fundraising goal of $45,000 to help with animal care.
You can make a donation or join my team to help us reach our target!

This is my second year Conquering the Bridge with International Bird Rescue, and I’ve been looking forward to this event since last year’s race! Conquer the Bridge is a 5.2 mile course that takes participants from Downtown San Pedro, across the Vincent Thomas Bridge, to Terminal Island and back. It is a really fun course, for a really great cause!

International Bird Rescue began helping water birds in need in 1971, and they currently operate out of two California locations – one in the Bay Area, and one here in San Pedro. In addition to serving local birds who come into their centers (by way of good Samaritan reports or local animal control), they also respond to oil spills and other emergencies all over the world. Currently, they are responding to the pelican mass stranding event happening along the California coast.

helping pelicans in crisis

From mid-April until today, July 2, International Bird Rescue has taken in 388 starving brown pelicans in need of care. The exact cause of this crisis is not understood, but it may be due to weather changes and lower visibility in the water. Even with an ample supply of fish available, the pelicans have not been able to find food. This has led to them turning up in unusual locations, and sometimes getting injured trying to find something to eat. Currently, International Bird Rescue is caring for 146 brown pelicans, and they have released 141 rehabilitated birds back into the wild. You can find more information and up-to-date stats on their website.

meet the birds of IBR

International Bird Rescue is not usually open to the public, so their birds can enjoy a quiet place to recover. However, you can take a peek at their current pelican patients on their live BirdCam, or attend their upcoming open house on August 2nd to learn more about their work.

my team: captivating cormorants

This year, I decided to name my fundraising team after one of my favorite seabirds – the cormorant! It wasn’t until I volunteered at International Bird Rescue several years ago that I started noticing cormorants in the wild. If you are near the coast and see a crow with an unusually long neck and beak, you might actually be looking at a cormorant – I have seen them flying over Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach.

I originally considered calling my team the Creepy Cormorants, because these guys have such an effortlessly cool, spooky vibe. But after reading that some people actively dislike these birds and find them a nuisance, I didn’t want to call them something that could be misconstrued as negative. Captivating Cormorants, it is!

If you’d like to take your support a step further, you can join my team and participate in this year’s race, either in-person on September 2, or virtually from wherever you are.

thank you for supporting international bird rescue!

Thank you for taking a moment to learn more about International Bird Rescue. Please donate if you are able, and feel free to share this post with your network to bring more attention to this important cause.

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