Wednesday, June 19, 2013

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Being a Bird Foster Parent is a Full Time Job
Foster parents teach birds how to be independent and care for themselves
By Lauren Maxwell
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ANCHORAGE - Anyone who’s ever had a baby knows it’s a tough job that requires constant care. But one Anchorage woman has taken on a task that some say is at least as tough: She’s a foster mom for baby birds.

During the school year Laurie Decker is a teacher at East High School, but in the summer she volunteers her motherly services with The Bird Treatment and Learning Center (Bird TLC).

Decker takes birds home that have been brought to the center as abandoned. It’s a tough job that requires regular feedings, first every half hour, then every hour.

Decker says her job is to teach the birds how to be independent and do things like feed on their own. But until they are able she is forced to take them with her wherever she goes, to the gym or grocery store, even doctor’s appointments. Decker has the birds by her side so she can stop for a feeding every hour.

Most of her young charges stay a few weeks before they are able to spread their wings and fly away.

Decker says like every parent it’s sometimes hard to see the little ones leave the nest, but satisfying to know they that she has given them the skills they will need to survive.