0:04

New York is a loud city. Walking around

0:06

Manhattan, you won't go 10 seconds without

0:08

hearing horns, folks yelling at each other,

0:10

or jackhammers, maybe even some combination of

0:12

those three. But underneath

0:15

all that, there's another sound, one that's

0:17

just as common, though not as iconic.

0:20

Bird Song. Birds

0:22

may not be our number one association with

0:24

the country's biggest city, but New York is

0:27

often on lists of best bird-watching cities in

0:29

the United States. And that's because

0:31

it's actually a pretty diverse place when it comes

0:33

to our friends in the skies. New

0:35

York is home for at least some of the year to over

0:37

300 bird species. And

0:39

just like us humans, the birds have to navigate a

0:42

lot too. And many birds

0:44

get hurt, flying to skyscrapers, sickness from

0:46

pollution, or just colliding with cars. And

0:49

if a bird gets hurt, well, it's

0:51

usually bad news. Most vets don't deal

0:53

with wild animals. But

0:56

on the Upper West Side of Manhattan,

0:58

tucked between Broadway and Central Park, there's

1:00

an unexpected refuge for hurt birds. My

1:08

name is Baudelaire, and this is Atlas Obscura,

1:10

a celebration of the

1:12

world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

1:15

Today, we go to New York City, to

1:17

the Wild Bird Fund, and see how an

1:19

organization that started in a cramped New York

1:21

apartment is now helping thousands of injured birds

1:24

feel like their old selves. More

1:27

after this. At US Bank,

1:29

when we say we're in it with

1:31

you, we

1:34

mean it. Not just for the

1:36

good stuff, the

1:53

grand openings and celebrations, although those are pretty

1:55

great, but for all the hard work it

1:57

took to get there, the fine tuning of

2:00

goals, the managing of cash and workflows,

2:02

and decision-making. We're in to help you

2:04

through all of it, because together we're

2:06

proving day in and day out that

2:09

there is nothing as powerful as the

2:11

power of us. Visit usbank.com to get

2:13

started today. Equal Housing Lender, member FDIC.

2:15

Copyright 2024, US Bank. The

2:23

story of the wild bird fund starts in the

2:25

early 90s when a woman named Rita McMahon spotted

2:27

an injured Canada goose on the side of the

2:30

road. Rita

2:32

pulled over and put the hurt goose in her car.

2:34

She didn't know what she'd do with it, but she

2:36

knew she had to do something. First,

2:38

she called around to see if someone or

2:41

some organization could take the goose off her

2:43

hands to care for it. And

2:45

she was not able to find anyone. This

2:47

is Katherine Quayle, a bird lover and communications

2:49

director for the wild bird fund. She

2:53

called and called. Nobody

2:55

would take the goose. And she couldn't

2:57

believe it. She couldn't believe there was no one who

2:59

could help a Canada goose. Rita

3:03

tried to care for the goose herself, but it

3:05

just didn't work out. The goose didn't survive. But

3:07

Rita was so moved by that experience

3:09

that she went and got her wildlife

3:11

rehabilitation license. Then she turned her apartment

3:13

into a place to heal and rehab

3:15

injured birds. She

3:17

at one point had, I think,

3:20

60 animals in her apartment.

3:22

Just to give you an idea, that's 60

3:25

birds, mostly pigeons, flying all over the place

3:27

in a small New York City apartment. And

3:30

finally decided that it

3:33

would be best for her marriage if

3:35

she moved the operation outside of the

3:37

apartment. Almost

3:40

30 years later, the wild bird fund

3:43

has drastically upgraded its facilities. It's now

3:45

operating out of a double storefront on

3:47

Columbus Ave in Manhattan. And they've got

3:49

all types of rooms especially made for

3:51

their patients. A patient list that on

3:53

any given day can include warblers, sparrows,

3:56

woodpeckers, robins, blue jays, ravens, and of

3:58

course, Canada geese. For

4:00

these birds, the Wild Bird Fund has an

4:02

exam room, a small water fowl room with

4:04

a pool and cages for birds like seagulls,

4:07

and an isolation area. Though one thing

4:09

remains the same, the many,

4:11

many pigeons. We have a

4:13

basement downstairs and that

4:16

is filled with our pigeon patients

4:18

though. There are lots and lots of

4:20

cages down there. How does

4:22

a bird end up at the Wild Bird

4:24

Fund? There are a lot of ways a bird can end

4:26

up at the Wild Bird Fund. People find them on the

4:28

street. People find all kinds of

4:31

animals. A lot of pigeons obviously because the

4:33

pigeons are the most common

4:35

and they're big and they're on the sidewalk. So a

4:37

lot of people find pigeons that are sick or injured.

4:39

They pick them up and they bring them to us.

4:42

Other times they find birds in the

4:44

park. There are so many

4:46

ways that an animal or bird can be

4:48

injured in the city and there's

4:50

a real need for

4:52

help for these wild animals.

4:56

Today the Wild Bird Fund operates with an

4:59

army of volunteers, usually 40 to 80 at

5:01

any given time, working in the clinic or

5:03

going out and picking up a bird if

5:05

the person who spotted it can't bring it

5:07

in. The Wild Bird Fund also

5:09

has several vets who come in every now

5:11

and then to do the things only vets

5:13

are licensed to do, like surgeries and certain

5:15

exams. All this from a

5:17

woman who decided to help a hurt candidate goose on

5:19

the side of the road. An

5:23

especially dangerous part of New York City for birds

5:25

is Bryant Park, just a couple blocks away from

5:28

Times Square and just so happens to be where

5:30

our office is. Only a few months ago I

5:32

was walking back into the office from lunch when

5:34

I saw a bunch of people huddled around something

5:36

on the ground. As I moved closer

5:38

I spotted an injured bird that looked like it was

5:40

close to dying. A woman that was in the huddled

5:42

group was on the phone and from what I now

5:44

know there's a good chance she was calling the Wild

5:47

Bird Fund. Catherine tells me this happens

5:49

all the time. Bryant Park

5:51

is surrounded by glass walls and

5:53

so they collide with

5:55

the glass because they see the

5:58

trees reflected in it and they

6:00

think it's a real treat. They

6:02

don't understand the architectural cues

6:04

that a human understands to tell them

6:06

there's a building here. So

6:08

at this point, we're treating about

6:10

1,500 window collision victims

6:13

a year. Most of them are migratory

6:15

birds. A lot of

6:17

them are three inches long, three and a

6:19

half inches long, beautiful little songbirds that are

6:21

migrating. Some of them

6:23

are hawks and even geese.

6:26

Any bird can fly into a window. And

6:29

though Bryant Park is especially dangerous, New

6:31

York City itself is dangerous because it

6:33

happens to be right smack in the

6:35

middle of birds' migration path. New York

6:37

City is right on the Atlantic Flyway,

6:39

which is a major highway

6:42

for birds to migrate from Canada down

6:44

to South America. The birds have been

6:46

flying through New York City since before

6:48

New York City was here. Now

6:50

the city emits this huge beacon

6:52

of light, this huge glow, and

6:55

birds are attracted to light, like moths

6:57

are attracted to light. And

7:00

so the city draws them in. It

7:02

draws in the birds with this beacon

7:04

of light. And what happens is when

7:06

they come, you know, we

7:09

have great habitat here, but it's

7:12

surrounded by glass in most

7:14

cases. Like the

7:16

window issue, a lot of the reasons

7:19

why a bird would end up needing

7:21

the Wild Bird Fund services are human-caused

7:23

environmental issues, like lead poisoning, which gets

7:25

to birds by lead in the soil,

7:27

water, and the paint on some bridges.

7:29

Lead poisoning drastically affects a bird's health.

7:31

Birds that eat on the ground or

7:34

that are dependent on the water, such

7:36

as, you know, swans and geese and

7:38

ducks, they're really susceptible to lead poisoning.

7:41

When a bird has lead poisoning, they struggle

7:43

with coordination, they become weaker, and their wings

7:45

begin to droop. That

7:48

was the case with a white swan named Moby who calls the ponds

7:50

of Prospect Park in Brooklyn home. Not one, but two issues manifested in

7:52

this one bird. Lots of

7:54

people know him there, and what he's doing is he's

7:57

going to be a bird. looking

8:00

out for him and saw when he wasn't doing well

8:03

and we got him. Moby

8:05

was brought into the wild bird fund in January of 2022 because

8:07

of a fish hook he accidentally

8:09

swallowed. He underwent surgery and was back at

8:11

Prospect Park just a couple of weeks later.

8:14

In early 2024, some folks noticed

8:16

Moby was a little wobbly and not his

8:18

usual bubbly self. He returned to the

8:21

wild bird fund where the folks found out he

8:23

was suffering from high lead toxicity. After

8:25

a few weeks of treatment, Moby was once again

8:27

back to his old self. Moby

8:31

was a success story and success for the

8:33

wild bird fund means that the bird gets

8:35

to the best possible outcome. For some, that

8:38

means flying again. For others, it's bringing a

8:40

painless end to their suffering. What's

8:43

the success rate for birds

8:45

brought into that WVF? Um,

8:49

if you have a black ballpark. Yeah, it

8:52

really varies. I would

8:54

say overall it's probably

8:56

somewhere around 35-40%. That

9:00

may not sound like the best percentage in the world,

9:02

but consider how many birds the wild bird fund takes

9:04

in. Catherine tells me that the

9:06

wild bird fund during their slower seasons gets

9:08

about 10 to 20 birds a day. At

9:10

their busiest during migration periods, they get over

9:13

100 a day. I don't

9:15

even like to talk about success because in some

9:17

cases, there are a lot of patients that we

9:19

get in who are

9:21

just dying. They're dying. The

9:24

reason that the person was able to pick them up was

9:26

because they were dying. Most birds, if they're even

9:28

a little bit healthy, you will not

9:30

be able to pick them up. You will not be able to

9:32

catch them. So once someone has picked

9:35

bird up, that bird is already

9:37

typically in pretty bad shape. So a lot of the

9:39

birds we get in, they cannot

9:41

be helped. And for

9:43

those that do make it through their stint at

9:45

the wild bird fund, Catherine says the staff is

9:47

very careful about reintroducing the birds to the wild.

9:50

We don't just let them go. Like we don't open

9:52

the door and just shoot them out onto Co. Umbus

9:54

Avenue. But yes,

9:56

the goal is to release them back to the wild. The

10:04

importance of the Wild Bird Fund is twofold.

10:06

First and most obvious is the help it

10:08

provides to thousands of birds in need. The

10:11

second reason is the help it provides people.

10:13

People who see a sick and injured bird

10:15

and just want to do whatever they can

10:17

to help it. Like Rita that

10:19

night, she saw the Canada goose. Something

10:22

special happens when someone picks up a wild

10:24

animal in the city and brings it to

10:26

the clinic and finds that there's a whole

10:28

world of people inside the clinic that are

10:31

ready to help and can help. They

10:34

become much more connected to

10:36

other birds in the city,

10:38

to other wildlife. They become

10:41

more aware, perhaps, of the

10:44

natural environment around them. Some

10:46

city dwellers are simply not

10:48

that aware of the wildlife in the

10:50

city. And suddenly, once they've

10:53

rescued an animal, they do become aware. And

10:55

it can create a really

10:58

strong connection between people

11:01

who are so surrounded by

11:04

a human-built environment

11:07

and the actual natural world that also

11:09

co-exists in that environment. The

11:12

Wild Bird Fund runs entirely on donations.

11:14

So if you're interested in supporting their

11:16

work or just checking out what it

11:19

is that they do, visit their website,

11:21

wildbirdfund.org. The link is in the show notes.

11:28

This podcast is a co-production of Atlas

11:30

Obscura and Stitcher Studios. Our

11:32

production team includes Johanna Mayer

11:34

Dylan Thres Doug Baldinger Chris

11:36

Naka Camille Stanley Manolo Morales Gabby

11:39

Gladney Our technical director is Casey

11:41

Holford Our theme in end credit

11:43

music is by Sam Tindall. This

11:45

episode was sound designed by me

11:47

and mixed by Luce Fleming

11:50

If you want to learn more, be sure

11:52

to visit atlasobscura.com. There's a link in our

11:54

episode description. And my name

11:56

is Baudelaire. If

12:00

you're looking for a trip full

12:03

of the extraordinary and unexpected, then

12:05

you need to

12:17

get off the beaten path and head

12:20

to Missouri. The City Museum

12:22

in St. Louis has got to be one

12:24

of the coolest places that I have ever

12:26

been, but it's just one

12:28

of many wonders found in Missouri. You

12:30

can play a chess game at the

12:32

World Chess Hall of Fame, also home

12:34

to the world's largest chess piece. You

12:37

can tour a reimagined ghost town brought

12:39

back to life as outdoor art at

12:41

Red Oak II in Carthage. Or

12:44

go on a crazy underwater adventure

12:46

at Bon Terre Mine, one

12:48

of the world's largest man-made

12:50

caverns and freshwater scuba diving resorts.

12:53

Or throw back craft beers 50 feet

12:56

underground at O'Malley's Pub in Weston.

12:59

Missouri is a place full of

13:01

surprise and delight. Don't

13:03

miss out on Missouri, because whether

13:05

it is weird, wondrous, or the

13:08

world's largest, there is an MO

13:10

for every traveler in Missouri. Find

13:12

yours at visitmo.com.