Doing It Right: How (Not to) Wash an Oiled Bird

By Pamela Hartman

All-too familiar images of massive oil spills cross our TV and computer screens. Seabirds, coated in sticky oil, struggle to move and perish as we watch.

For many people, the sight causes a surge of compassion and a desire to do something. But washing an oiled bird is nothing like washing a dog in the bathtub. Would-be rescuers learned this back in 1971, after two Standard Oil tankers collided in San Francisco Bay. Fifty miles of coastline were covered with oil, and with it, approximately 7,000 birds. Volunteers worked feverishly to save as many birds as they could, but in the end, only about 300 were rehabilitated and released because at that time, very little was known about good rehabilitation practices. Birds died not only from the coating of oil but also from humans' lack of knowledge.

How should these birds be washed—and with what products? What should they be fed — and how? Where should they be housed before and after they are washed? What practices should be avoided that would further endanger them?

Washing and rehabilitation practices used today were forged in the crucible of that 1971 Standard Oil spill in San Francisco and in other disasters that followed, among them:

• 1986, the Apex Houston Spill, off the northern California coast;

• 1989, the Exxon Valdez disaster, in Alaska's Prince William Sound;
• 2000, the Treasure Spill, near Capetown, South Africa;

• 2010, the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill off the Gulf Coast.

Each spill, each disaster, has been both a tragedy and an opportunity to learn how to respond better in the next disaster. "Most of the innovations," explains Claudia Duckworth, of Pacific Wildlife Care, "are coming from International Bird Rescue."

Founded by retired nurse Alice Berkner in the wake of the 1971 Standard Oil spill, International Bird Rescue (then known as International Bird Rescue and Research Center) now travels all over the world to care for oiled birds. However, in 1971, almost nothing was known about caring for oiled seabirds. Berkner has written about this, her first experience washing birds. Like many others, when she heard about the horrific spill in San Francisco Bay, she says she "felt strongly that it was the responsibility of all of us to help clean up the mess we had created." She appeared at the "hastily established Richmond Bird Center" to help out. When she stepped into the cavernous building, she was assaulted by the smell of "a horrendous mix of rotting fish, bird droppings, oil, and, strangely enough, vitamin B. Almost as bad was the noise . . . the nightmarish mix of screaming birds, guitar music, forklifts, and people voicing the complete range of human emotions in that echo chamber of a building."

Caring for oiled birds, as she began to learn, is a science. Much can go wrong. Many of the practices and techniques used back in 1971 proved ineffective or even harmful. One that Berkner immediately questioned was the feeding of bread and milk to loons. Loons are pelagic birds that dive for fish. Giving these birds bread and milk is like offering worms to a human patient in an emergency room. Today, Pacific Wildlife Care, in Morro Bay, and other wildlife rehabilitation centers follow strict recipes and procedures for tube feeding fish slurry to seabirds not eating fish on their own.

Another practice not understood in those early days was the danger to pelagic birds that are placed for even a short time on a hard surface such as a concrete floor or hard- bottomed cage. Because these birds spend their entire lives in water (the word pelagic refers to the open seas), contact with hard surfaces results in devastating sores to their feet and keel (sternum). Today, the protocol is to make use of soft net-bottomed pens for pelagic birds not yet able to be placed in pools and to further protect their feet with cotton booties and their keel with a soft U-shaped "do-nut."

Given the practices of the time, one might wonder how even 300 birds survived the humans' good intentions in the 1971 spill. As a point of contrast, twenty-nine years after that San Francisco disaster, International Bird Rescue assisted in the enormous effort to save 20,000 oiled penguins in the 2000 Treasure Spill in South Africa. With improved procedures, 90% of the captured birds were rehabilitated and released. Knowledge accumulated from the history of oil spills means that many more birds are now able to survive the rehabilitation process.

However, Claudia Duckworth reminds us, washing a bird is still "a skill that requires specialized training" because "you can kill a bird if you don't do it right."

When Duckworth arrived at Pacific Wildlife Care in the late 1980s, she knew nothing about washing birds.  A swallow nest had fallen off the roof of her house, and she didn't know what to do. It was with "a great sense of relief" that she found PWC's phone number. When she brought the nest of baby birds to them, she wanted to help, but she didn't know anything about wildlife. She volunteered to answer phones, which required learning fast. To prevent misinformation from going out, she asked a lot of questions of Melinda Alvarado and others at PWC who had a wealth of knowledge and the generosity to share it.

Soon Duckworth became a wildlife transporter and then a rehabilitator and eventually a supervisor. Before the PWC Center opened in Morro Bay, she kept various animals at her home during their rehabilitation, as other volunteers did. At any one time, for example, she might have a grebe in her bathtub or an eagle on her porch—or both. Today, she is involved in creancing, the skill of exercising a bird of prey on a tether, in preparation for release to the wild. She is also on the board of directors and is involved in education. She learned from Karen Johnston how to care for the educational raven she is permitted to keep in an enclosure on her property and take with her to community presentations.

This raven, Corax, has begun to imitate her. ("Hi, Corax!" he will say. "What's up?") Duckworth says she needs to be careful what she says to him.

In addition, Duckworth is on the wash team at Pacific Wildlife Care, on call to help in the case of an oiled bird. When it comes to washing, she and others at the center were taught to "do it right" soon after she arrived at PWC in the late 1980s. Jay Holcomb, one of the founders of International Bird Rescue, came to give training in the washing of oiled birds, a procedure difficult for the humans and very stressful to the bird.

From Holcomb, and from Duckworth's subsequent experiences, she learned the techniques for washing: stabilizing the bird and making sure it is strong enough to go through the procedure, setting up the wash room, maintaining both water and room at the right temperature, handling the bird in a way to minimize danger and stress, making certain the bird is washed and rinsed clean of even the smallest amount of both oil and detergent, and taking appropriate after-wash steps, which include giving the bird "the space and time to waterproof."

Duckworth had a small epiphany, as each person washing a bird for the first time does.

There comes a moment in the rinse stage of the wash procedure when something amazing happens. At this point, when the bird is completely clean, the feathers actually begin to fluff up, even under a strong spray of water. "It's such a miracle," she says. "It's astonishing."

From this, Duckworth learned an appreciation for the exquisite design of a bird's feathers, "remarkable structures" that provide waterproofing "like a wetsuit." The feathers, she says, allow birds to be "perfectly protected by nature." Each feather has barbules that hook together with other feathers, creating a network of intricate layers. This provides a watertight seal insulating the skin from even the coldest of Arctic water.

A bird's constant preening is essential to its survival. It keeps the feathers clean and in perfect alignment. However, even "a very, very small amount of oil is a disaster," Duckworth explains. A bird cannot clean it off and ingests some of it in a doomed attempt to do so. This small amount of oil disturbs the alignment of feathers, breaks the watertight seal, and results in hypothermia. Hence the need for humans to wash an oiled bird if it is to have any chance of surviving.

As part of the OWCN (Oiled Wildlife Care Network), managed by the veterinary school at UC Davis, Pacific Wildlife Care would provide space for large-scale washing at the Morro Bay Center if there were an oil spill on the Central Coast. In such a case, OWCN would bring in personnel for the wash.

However, major spills are not the only reason that birds become oiled, and PWC maintains a wash team to care for birds on an as-needed basis. Often, a bird is oiled as a result of the natural oil seep off our coast. Sometimes a bird is brought to the Center because it is coated in vegetable oil. Sometimes it has dived into an area around a fishery that is contaminated with fish oils. One time, Duckworth remembers, "We got a little sparrow that had been caught in Tanglefoot," a sticky substance that people put on railings. Instead of discouraging birds from alighting, it causes them to die. The sparrow, Duckworth says, "had Tanglefoot all over, like a straitjacket."

A PWC volunteer keeps this Western Grebe’s head covered and above water while another trained volunteer washes the bird to remove petroleum. Photos by Jeanette Stone

Oiled birds are documented and feather samples collected for the Oiled Wildlife Network.

For people who want to help, awareness and knowledge are essential. The many birders in SLO County can be especially helpful. For example, if they see any pelagic bird (such as a loon, fulmar, murre, or shearwater) on the beach, they need to keep all people and dogs away, do nothing to frighten the bird back into the water, and call Pacific Wildlife Care immediately (805-543-9453). Pelagic birds do not venture onto the shore unless they are injured or oiled. A beached pelagic bird needs appropriate human intervention if it is to survive, and a call to the PWC Hotline will bring a transporter to the site to humanely capture the bird and take it to the Center. People who want to get directly involved in the hands-on rehabilitation of wildlife can also call PWC. They can then attend volunteer orientation, be mentored, and begin the process of learning to "do it right."

 For more information on Pacific Wildlife Care, a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization,
or to volunteer or make a donation, go to the website: Pacific Wildlife Care

If you find an injured wild animal, call the PWC Hotline (805-543-9453).