There are many ways a bird may injure its wing. A swift blow from a cat's claw, a smack into a car windshield, a poorly planned cast of a fisherman's net.

photo courtesy of Google images

When a bird breaks its wing it is often left behind by the flock. With flight as the flocks best means of finding food and major advantage over predation, they simply can't afford to rescue a fellow downed pilot. Besides, they don't have the best medical training.

Brown Pelican with a broken wing.
photo courtesy of Google images

Thankfully, when a human breaks its wing, support and help is never more than a friend away.

At the Beginning of this week, only 5 days into our birding and bicycling tour, Kevin fell over his handle bars and broke his right arm. Luckily, Darrow was right behind him and motor-vehicle help pulled up quickly. After a visit to the emergency room in Garberville and a few visits with orthopedic surgeons in the Bay Area, Kevin's arm is fixed and slowly healing.

Special thanks to all of those who have supported us through this difficult last week of the Bird School Project. We are eternally grateful to our families for their support, and our friends for being there when we need them most.

We are still very dedicated to visiting schools and taking classes outside to learn about birds. Thanks to Dr. Joshua Richards, from Webster Medical, Kevin's wing is repaired and ready to hold binoculars.

Kevin's new wing hardware

After a quick turn around we are back in action this week in Northern California. Though we can no longer travel via bicycle, we are stoked to continue visiting schools in the Bird Mobile (Darrow's van).

Be sure to check back in this week as we visit Northern California schools all week long. Updates on our workshops soon!

Yesterday, we spent the morning checking out birds at the Arcata marsh. This is an amazing community resource, used by students and Audubon club members for education and recreation.

Birding at the marsh!

Snowy egrets

The creation of the marshes is an interesting story. In the 1970s, under new environmental regulation, the city of Arcata was faced with the issue of treating their wastewater before sending it into the ocean. Rather than spending millions of dollars on a wastewater treatment facility, two professors from the university designed, tested, and proved a marsh system as an acceptable treatment for the city's wastewater. Now the four marshes serve as the perfect habitat for migrating and resident bird species.

Species list for Arcata Marsh, Humboldt county, Oct. 11:

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black Phoebe, Ruby-crowned kinglet, White-crowned Sparrow, Lesser Goldfish, House Finch, Great Egret, Northern Pintail, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Mallards, Golden-Crowned Sparrow, White-Crowned Sparrow, Common Merganser, Eurasian Wigeon, ,