As each of the gooey birds is brought inside they're weighed, measured and a blood sample is taken. The birds are rehydrated by squirting Pedialite, a formula designed for human infants, down their throats and depending on their condition given liquid human food like ensure or fish gruel or whole fish like frozen smelt or even goldfish. The birds are washed in several changes of detergent, then kept warm in covered wooden boxes until they're ready to move to portable tanks set up outside for some fattening up before they're released to the wild. Newman said 50 to 90 percent of the treated birds are expected to survive. He said OWCN had tracked released birds using radio transmitters and found their survival rates in the wild were comparable to unoiled birds.
Common murres sun themselves in an outside pool.
These birds have been washed, rinsed, dryed and are nearer to being released back into the wild. The center is staffed primarily with volunteers said the Director Dr. Richard Golightly, who's also an HSU Wildlife professor. We're doing everything from laundry and cleaning up after the birds to actually feeding birds and washing birds. We're barely breaking even on our help. He said the center had established a special volunteer line at the university 826-4528 and said they could use people anytime over the next two weeks.