Ailing songbirds are treated at a Decatur rehab center

For several years, Nancy Eilen, one of Georgia’s few licensed wildlife rehabilitators, cared for hundreds of sick, injured or orphaned wild birds in the basement of her Decatur home. She also paid most of the bills. A growing demand for her rehab services, however, soon overwhelmed her cramped clinic space.

In early 2021, fortune smiled. A spacious old house became available on the grounds of Decatur’s Legacy Park, the former site of the United Methodist Children’s Home. Eilen and fellow bird enthusiast Joy Carter formed a nonprofit group, Wild Nest Bird Rehab, to rent the house and transform it into a new clinic.

Today, the Wild Nest Bird Rehab center is believed to be the only clinic dedicated to the care of ailing songbirds in Georgia. In addition, it leads a formal training program for those who want to become licensed rehabbers.

Eilen, who holds state and federal wildlife rehabilitation permits, has a cadre of trained volunteers who strive to treat, heal and then release the songbirds (and woodpeckers and hummingbirds) back into the wild. They also provide free consulting on what to do if you find a baby or injured bird. To contact the center, go to wildnestbirdrehab.org/.

Last week, when Eilen showed me around the clinic, the avian “patients” included three rubythroated hummingbirds; a pair of mourning doves; a Northern cardinal; three cedar waxwings; and others.

The day before my visit, two killdeer, which were brought into the center in December as orphan chicks, had been taken to the Newman Wetlands Center in Clayton County for release.

During my visit, Eilen pointed out the examining room, the “baby room” (replete with incubators), the adult room and the two aviaries where many of the recuperating birds are held before release. In all, the center cares for more than 1,500 songbirds per year.

Eilen noted that within a few more months, at the peak of nesting season, the place will be quite noisy and busy as baby birds needing care are brought in. At that time, she said, the center may be tending some 100 patients per day.

■ IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Center astronomer: The moon will be full tonight. Mercury and Mars are very low in the east just before sunrise. Venus rises in the east a few hours before sunrise. Jupiter is high in the southwest at sunset.

COURTESY OF CHARLES SEABROOK Nancy Eilen scoops up mealworms for “patients” in the Wild Nest Bird Rehab center. The prescribed diets vary according to species and season.