I have so far had a wonderful experience at Wild Nest. Everybody was so informative and polite. In more detail so you (the reader) can understand the dynamics a little more: the shift is broken down like this. We have a shift leader, people from entry levels, level one, and level two. Those are the people that are included in a shift; it is a combination of teamwork and hierarchy mentorship. But there is an overall atmosphere of passion and respect.
What surprised me was how some ladies can look at a bird and go, “That’s a house finch!” or “That hummingbird is male, I can tell by the color on its neck.” Even for just a second when one is a short stop from flying by, they can tell. I have always just said “that bird” or “this bird,” so to be around people who can differentiate the difference so effortlessly is impressive.
The only critique I have about the place so far is because there are so many different leaders and different personalities, I find I overhear miscommunication. For example, one shift leader may be like, “Feed the baby finches like this,” and the next will be like, “No, don’t do it like that, do it like this,” which is slightly confusing because you have to remember what each leader specifically likes.
The entire time I’ve been volunteering, there has been a warning of “watch out for baby bird season. It is going to be so busy,” but so far it has been extremely slow. I overheard some other volunteers, confused as to why they don’t know why this year there seems to be a delay. Even though I have already served my 24 hours and completed my honors requirements, I plan to continue doing it because I want to see the adrenaline rush everyone is talking about when the building is at its peak of birds.
At this point, I still don’t feel comfortable touching the mealworms or anything of that nature, but there are a lot of simple tasks like sweeping and cleaning tables, and there are more complex tasks like mealworm care and making repashy. I plan to go to the baby bird workshop this Saturday, and I can’t wait.
The links below show the outside of Wild Nest Rehab!