Emergency Prep · Wildlife
The Clinging Bird Rescue Guide
Triage for Woodpeckers and Swifts
Birds that can't stand on a flat floor. 10 modules on the clinging foot and why a shoebox fails, chimney swifts that can never touch the ground, the vertical towel-lined box, woodpecker concussions, cleaning melted suet off feathers, freeing birds from siding and netting, protecting the stiff tail in transit, why a swift must never be given water, bird mites, and the insect-specialist rehabbers these birds need.
About this course
Put a woodpecker in a normal shoebox and it slides around helplessly, because its feet are built to grip bark, not stand on cardboard. Put water in a chimney swift's mouth and it drowns, because it drinks by skimming ponds at speed. These two birds break the standard rescue rules, and this course teaches the rules that replace them. You'll learn to turn a tall box into a vertical climbing wall with rough towels, how to hand-launch a grounded swift the way rehabbers do (and when not to), why a woodpecker's built-in shock absorbers still fail against glass, how to de-grease a bird coated in melted suet, how to free a bird from vinyl siding or garden netting without tearing it, how to keep stiff tail feathers from bending in transit, and which mites come indoors with cavity nesters. The destination is a rehabber with vertical flight cages and an insect kitchen, and the course shows you how to find one.
What you'll learn
- The clinging foot, why flat boxes fail, and the vertical towel-lined triage box
- Chimney swifts: the bird that can't take off from the ground, and the hand-launch
- Woodpecker concussions and the dark-and-quiet protocol
- De-greasing melted suet, and extractions from siding and netting
- Protecting the stiff tail in transit, and why a swift is never given water
- Bird mites and cross-contamination, and finding insect-specialist rehabbers
Who this is for
Suet-feeder owners, homeowners with a swift in the fireplace or a woodpecker in the siding, gardeners with fruit netting, and rescue volunteers who want to stop making clinging birds worse with the wrong box.
Course outline (10 modules)
Quiz & Certificate
Knowledge quiz
After completing all lessons, take a short quiz to test your understanding.
Go to quiz →Completion certificate
Pass the quiz and earn a shareable certificate of completion.
View certificate →Frequently asked questions
Ready to get started?
$9.99 · Lifetime access · 10 lessons