Rebecca Duerr

• DVM MPVM PhD
• Managing Director at International Bird Rescue

DUERR, R.S., JAQUES, D.H., SELBY, B.G., SKOGLUND, J.S. & KOSINA, S. 2023. Medical history and post-release survival of rehabilitated California Brown Pelicans Pelecanus occidentalis californicus, 2009-2019. Marine Ornithology 51: 157-168. California Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) rehabilitated in 2009-2019 were released with m...

In mid-May 2022, an unusual Brown Pelican (BRPE) stranding event commenced in southern California, with the greatest density of strandings focused on the coast from Santa Barbara County to Los Angeles County. The event peaked on May 18, when more than 100 live Brown Pelicans (BRPE) were admitted to coastal wildlife centers in a single day. Ultimate...

Gross necropsies were performed on all herons and egrets (family Ardeidae) that died or were euthanized at a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Fairfield, California, over a six-week period in the summer of 2018 (n = 145). Of the animals necropsied, 108 (74.5%) were euthanized and 37 (25.5%) died. Common reasons for euthanasia were trauma (n = 24),...

An increase in cases of metabolic bone disease (MBD) in chicks of six species of heron and egret (family Ardeidae) was identified at a wildlife rehabilitation center in the spring and summer of 2018. The outbreak affected 34.3% of birds in care for four or more days during the first 3 mo of the study and was the most common reason for euthanasia du...

Because of concerns regarding potential adverse effects of meloxicam in pelicans reported by several zoos and wildlife rehabilitation facilities, this study was undertaken to determine the pharmacokinetics of a single oral dose of meloxicam in brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis). A pilot study was performed with 6 apparently healthy wild adult...

Between March and May 2019, wildlife rehabilitation centers along coastal southern California admitted increased numbers of Brandt's cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) with neurological disease including head tilt, nystagmus, torticollis, tremors, paresis, paralysis, and ataxia. Seven cormorants from Los Angeles County and one cormorant from O...

House Finches and goldfinches are classified in family Fringillidae, subfamily Carduelinae. The European House Sparrow is an introduced and well‐established species in North America and elsewhere, and is not especially closely related to native North American sparrows. This chapter presents a detailed guide to hand‐rearing techniques for raising ho...

This chapter presents a detailed guide to hand‐rearing techniques for raising grebes. It provides valuable information on record keeping, appropriate intervention, diet protocol, housing, feeding procedures, and care and stabilization criteria considered throughout the hand‐rearing process. The chapter also presents common medical problems encounte...

This chapter presents a detailed guide to hand‐rearing techniques for raising baby bird. It provides valuable information on human safety, biosecurity, appropriate intervention, record keeping, care, stabilization, and physical examination criteria considered throughout the hand‐rearing process. Detailed information on the location where the chick...

Woodpeckers are aggressive toward their nest and housemates; only place nestlings and/or fledglings with conspecifics of the same size. This chapter presents a detailed guide to hand‐rearing techniques for raising woodpeckers. It provides valuable information on record keeping, appropriate intervention, diet protocol, housing, feeding procedures, w...

This chapter presents a detailed guide to hand‐rearing techniques for raising herons, egrets, and bitterns. It provides valuable information on record keeping, appropriate intervention, diet protocol, housing, feeding procedures, and care and stabilization criteria considered throughout the hand‐rearing process. The chapter also presents common med...

About 62,000 dead or dying common murres (Uria aalge), the trophically dominant fish-eating seabird of the North Pacific, washed ashore between summer 2015 and spring 2016 on beaches from California to Alaska. Most birds were severely emaciated and, so far, no evidence for anything other than starvation was found to explain this mass mortality. Thr...

Warmth, hydration, and energy are critical during initial care. Once infants are at normal body temperature, weigh them (in grams if small, in tenths of a gram if tiny) and administer warm fluids to correct hydration deficits. Once the infant is warmed and well hydrated, species‐appropriate diets may be fed. This chapter provides general informatio...

This chapter provides a brief summary of natural history of seabirds and allies and practical information on medical and surgical management, including the most prevalent concerns for each species and the epidemiology of infectious and parasitic diseases. Diagnosis in individual wild birds is complicated by vague clinical signs and expensive nondef...

From August through December 2015, beachcast bird survey programs reported increased deposition of common murres ( Uria aalge) on central and northern California beaches, but not on southern California beaches. Coastal wildlife rehabilitation centers received more than 1,000 live, stranded, and debilitated murres from Sonoma County to San Luis Obis...

Nutritional support is a primary therapy administered to oiled animals during responses to oil spills, but data informing nutritional decision-making during events are limited. In this study, 44 common murres (Uria aalge) and 6 Western grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis), naturally oiled by oceanic seeps off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara Co...

After major oil spills, hundreds to thousands of live stranded birds enter rehabilitative care. To target aspects of rehabilitative efforts for improvement and to evaluate which initial physical examination and biomedical parameters most effectively predict survival to release, medical records were examined from 913 Common Murres ( Uria aalge ; COM...

We characterized the genome of a highly divergent gyrovirus (GyV8) in the spleen and uropygial gland tissues of a diseased northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), a pelagic bird beached in San Francisco, California. No other exogenous viral sequences could be identified using viral metagenomics. The small circular DNA genome shared no significant nuc...

Critical care for aquatic birds undergoing rehabilitation as a result of oil spills currently proceeds with minimal information about the nutritional status and needs of the affected animals, and lack of such information may substantially affect the survival of birds through the rehabilitation process and after their release. To objectively evaluat...

We report the identification of a novel papillomavirus, Fulmarus glacialis papillomavirus 1 (FgPV1), present within an interdigital foot mass of a Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis). The mass of interest was composed of normal stratified and keratinized epithelium and dense mesenchymal cells with central cartilaginous islands. Within the nuclei o...

The use of chemical dispersants has often been discussed for larger spills due to the perceived advantage to the environment. Evaluation and development of dispersant use plans were undertaken throughout the United States in the late 1990 and early 2000. Net environmental benefit analysis used in this process, assumed that removing oil from the wat...

Natural HistoryRecord KeepingEquipmentCriteria for InterventionInitial CareFormulas and SupplementsExpected Weight GainTube FeedingFrequency of FeedingHousingTime to WeaningTips for Weaning from Formula to Solid FoodCommon Medical ProblemsAcknowledgmentsSources of Products MentionedReferencesFurther Reading

This chapter contains section titled: Natural HistoryEquipmentCriteria for InterventionAssessment of the NeonateInitial CareFormulas and SupplementsFeedingExpected Weight GainHousingTips for WeaningCommon Medical ProblemsOther ConsiderationsFurther InformationSources of Products Mentioned

Introduction Hatchery Facilities and Equipment Hatchery Sanitation Egg Handling and Storage Initial Care of Eggs Incubation Parameters Candling Egg Weight Loss Management Record Keeping The Hatching Process Hatching Assistance Egg Necropsy and Analysis of Hatching Failures Sources for Products Mentioned References

Half Title Title Copyright Contents Contributors Preface Acknowledgments

Otarine Herpesvirus-1 (OtHV-1) is a gammaherpesvirus routinely detected in urogenital tumor tissues of adult sea lions dying during rehabilitation, To investigate the epidemiology of this virus and guide the development of a mathematical model of its role in the multifactorial etiology of cancer in California sea lions, polymerase chain reaction (P...

The purpose of this study was to determine if Otarine Herpesvirus-1 (OtHV-1) is associated with the presence of urogenital carcinomas in California sea lions. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis with primers specific for OtHV-1 was used to compare the prevalence of OtHV-1 infection in 15 sea lions affected by urogenital carcinoma with that of...

Eighty-one Californian sea lions (Zalophus californianus) with signs of domoic acid toxicity stranded along the coast of California in 1998 when there were blooms of the domoic acid-producing alga Pseudonitzschia australis off-shore. In 2000, a further 184 sea lions stranded with similar clinical signs, but the strandings occurred both during detec...