BOISE, Idaho — To say the Ruth Melichar Bird Center in Boise is busy this time of year would be an understatement.
Hundreds of concerned Treasure Valley residents have been stopping by over the past few weeks to drop off injured and abandoned ducklings, swallows and robins.
Staff - made mostly of volunteers - rehabilitate more than 2,500 wild birds every year and release them back into the wild. A vast majority of those birds come to their care between mid-April and September. Just since the beginning of May, they've taken 400 ducklings under their wings.
"So we are at max capacity and they're still going to be coming in,"Melichar Bird Center director Jennifer Rockwell said. "So we are very busy out in our Duckville area."
But before you bring a bird in, give them a call. They can walk you through some scenarios to see if maybe a makeshift nest would be best, because as eager as they are to help, what's best for the birds is to stay in the wild.
"We don't want to bring them here," Rockwell said. "We are here as a secondary resort for these little birds who are orphaned or injured."
The Ruth Melichar Bird Center is the only bird rehab center in the Treasure Valley, and as a non-profit organization they rely entirely on donations. To learn more about volunteer opportunities or to make a donation, click here.
