The Vitamin B Guarantee

Why B Vitamins are Essential in the Treatment of Animals

Written By: Samantha Martinez, Environmental Educator

Here at Pelican Harbor Seabird Station every patient admitted gets an intake exam as soon as is deemed appropriate for each animal. An intake exam is the observation of the patient and the hands-on exam, as well as initial steps of diagnosing the issue and beginning treatment for the patients that come into our care. This includes physical examinations of the patient's body, obtaining a weight, administering anti-parasitic medication when appropriate, and subcutaneous fluids with vitamin B complex. We administer a complex of these vitamins to prevent any imbalance of a singular B vitamin since each is required for independent body functions. According to PHSS’s Rehabilitation Manager Yaritza Acosta, “Usually animals are coming in with some level of stress, debilitation, and dehydration, so we give them a boost of B vitamins on intake for overall health and cell function.”

According to the NWRA wildlife formulary, B vitamins can be very useful in increasing appetite and have been anecdotally shown to help with growth in poor-doer infants, specifically baby opossums. Vitamins B2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are important for skin quality and skin barrier function. Meaning that without them, the skin would not be able to properly keep in essential fluids and keep out unwanted chemicals and bacteria from the body. These vitamins are also important for numerous micro functions throughout the animal's body such as the formation of cell membranes, the growth of epidermal cells, cellular respiration, and taking part in metabolizing carbohydrates for energy.

Vitamin B12, also known as cobalin, is also very important for liver and pancreas function. Vitamin B12 along with B6 and B1 are also essential for the maintenance of a healthy nervous system which makes them very helpful in cases of CNS (Central Nervous System) trauma. Without an appropriate amount and diversity of these nutrients, animals may experience dysorexia, alopecia in mammals, non-pliability of the skin, and nervous system dysfunction. Thankfully, with the help of our community in the forms of both medical supplies and monetary donations, we are able to continue to provide these basic vitamins and minerals along with many other much-needed medications, food, and equipment. 

Sources

“The Importance of B Vitamins.” Veterinary Practice, 25 Aug. 2021

Kobeissy, Firas. “Autoantibodies in CNS Trauma and Neuropsychiatric Disorders.” Brain Neurotrauma: Molecular, Neuropsychological, and Rehabilitation Aspects., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 1970 

MO;, Calderón-Ospina CA;Nava-Mesa. “B Vitamins in the Nervous System: Current Knowledge of the Biochemical Modes of Action and Synergies Of THIAMINE, Pyridoxine, And Cobalamin.” CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, U.S. National Library of Medicine 

Shaffer, Dr. Catherine. “Vitamin b Deficiency.” News, 27 Feb. 2019

Wonderful Warblers

Written By: Sarah Stinson-Hurwitz, Wildlife Intake Associate

Fall migration is in full swing! Sweet little warblers are migrating all the way down to Central and South America for the winter after summering in the Eastern United States and Southern Canada. Here in South Florida, we are lucky enough to be a stopover migratory site and see a lot of these little fellas in the fall. 

We often get calls at the station when a finder sees a warbler, like the Cape May warbler shown on the left, on the ground not moving. A common first thought is that it needs help — it must be suffering from a broken wing or are unable to fly. If the warbler has a visible injury, your rehabilitation center should be contacted immediately. But oftentimes, the bird is just stunned from a collision with a window or another obstacle and needs a moment to recuperate. The best thing to do when you find a stunned warbler is to stand back and observe for about 20 minutes to see if they recover and fly away on their own. If not, it's time to take a photo and call us (or your nearest rehabilitation center) to determine next steps. 

Window collisions are the second deadliest human-related cause of bird injuries (cat attacks are the first). You can do your part to aid in their prevention by putting decals on your windows where collisions occur. The decals are made using the ultraviolet spectrum which is transparent to us humans but highly visible to birds. Collisions occur because birds are confused by the reflections of vegetation and sky they see in windows, and the decals upend this illusion. We also recommend placing feeders and bird baths either within three feet, or more than 30 feet, away from windows so that when birds take off they will not hit windows at dangerous speeds. If you are interested in acquiring decals, we have some available in our online store.  You can help make the world a safer place for warblers and all birds!

Why Passerines Aren’t Pets

The benefits of re-nesting songbirds 

Written By: Samantha Martinez, Environmental Educator

Humans have the amazing ability to empathize with their surroundings. To put themselves in the shoes of beings other than themselves. This is unequivocally a characteristic that we should nurture and be proud of. However; our own empathy that is meant to be used to help those around us can sometimes harm them when we are not fully aware of the effects of our actions. The most common situation that we experience like this at Pelican Harbor Seabird Station involves baby songbirds or mammals. Today we will dive deeper into the needs of baby passerines, also known as songbirds. And remember, always reach out to your local wildlife center if you find any wildlife that seems to need help

Nestling  Mockingbirds  Calling Out For Their Next Feeding From Mom & Dad 

From February to August Each year, parent songbirds will build a nest, incubate their eggs, and invest all of their energy into raising the next generation of their species. Inevitably they will run into a few roadblocks. For instance, a strong wind may knock all of their hard work completely out of the tree, babies and all. A  few may be stumbled on by humans who are more than willing to help. Now someone's first instinct may be to take the babies home and begin to feed them. This may seem like the most logical course of action but is actually not the best way we can help and has actually been coined “Bird-Napping”. In cases of fallen nests with birds that are too young to learn to fly, re-nesting would be the best option.

But what about older birds? Baby songbirds learn to fly from the ground up and can be found hopping on the ground as they build up their wing muscles until they are able to fly. In the case of baby birds learning to fly, it may look strange to us to see a bird on the ground. However, this is a completely natural process that every songbird must go through so it is important that we respect this process and leave the fledgling birds to complete their flying lessons. While their parents may not be easily visible, they are keeping an eye out for their little ones. 

Depending on their life stage, re-nesting or simply leaving them alone may be the right answer. Information on how to renest a baby bird and identify the life stage of said bird can be found here on the PHSS website. Two videos from our website will also be included at the end of this article.

Juvenile Northern Mockingbird Learning To Fly From the Ground Up

If you are still feeling iffy about the idea of leaving the baby birds, you should also be aware of the dangers you may unintentionally be imposing on these helpless younglings. Firstly, different species of songbirds each take up a specific niche in their environment when it comes to the foods they eat and baby songbirds can be extremely difficult to identify correctly. Feeding a baby bird something other than its natural diet can lead to digestion issues, growth stunting, a weakened immune system, or even death. Secondly, being raised by people can completely take away a bird's ability to behave normally in the wild and have the proper social skills to connect with other conspecifics (members of the same species) and may prevent them from breeding in the future. Though they are absolutely adorable and if raised by people can become quite friendly, wild birds or any wild animal for that matter should never be kept as a pet if it has the potential to have a full life in the wild since wild animals are biologically on every level different from domesticated animals and have much more complicated requirements to stay happy and healthy. 

All in all, good people from all walks of life stumble upon baby birds during nesting season and hear the call for help from these younglings. It is important to keep our empathy intact and do what we can but also be aware and informed of the best ways to help these animals before our good deed goes awry. Whether that be to put them in a strawberry basket with some leaves and re-home them in the closest tree or bush and wait for mom and dad to return or if the best thing is to just leave them be so they can grow into healthy well-adjusted birds. Either way, it is important to not let our first judgment and good intentions take away the right of every wild animal to be free. 

Found a baby bird? Here are some videos to help you identify the best course of action: