Meet A Real Bird Lady!

People who care for injured wildlife and birds are called "wildlife rehabilitators." They are real heros. Most of them work for free. They take in baby birds, birds that have been injured by flying into windows, cat-caught birds, and wildlife of all varieties. They are prepared to answer the door at 2:00 in the afternoon or 2:00 in the morning in order to accept and care for a new patient. The ultimate goal of all wildlife rehabilitators is to return a healthy, self-sufficient animal or bird to the wild, not to keep it caged.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take care of sick or injured birds? Let's meet Louise Grider, licensed wildlife rehabilitator in New Brockton, Alabama.

Louise, or Lulu, as she is known to her friends, has been caring for injured birds since she was a little girl. She wanted to be a veterinarian, but at the time she was going to school it wasn't considered a proper vocation for a girl. Nevertheless, she was known as "The Bird Lady" and her neighbors would bring her orphaned or injured birds to raise, and her father would bring home injured birds or animals he found in the woods while he was hunting. After her children had grown up and left home, she became licensed and opened up the Sweetgum Hollow Wildlife Center.

"We live about six miles out of town. We have 12 acres with a swamp on one side, a lake behind us, tilled fields to the north of us and woodlands, so it is a perfect place for a rehab center," Lulu says. "I also have a bluebird trail established along the perimeter of our 160 acres. I've got a dozen boxes up and I had wonderful success for two years in a row with almost every nestbox having two batches of fledglings."

Some animals and birds are brought to Lulu by people in the community, and some come from veterinarians (most veterinarians don't treat wild birds and animals). Still others are brought by the local sheriff or fish and game officers. Lulu treats them all, and always her goal is to release a healthy bird or animal back into the wild.

"Last summer Alabama Power brought me three red-bellied woodpeckers, three screech owls, and a nest of baby squirrels, all found in a big sweetgum tree that came down in a storm last year," Lulu said. She was able to save them all and release them back into the forest.

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