Avoid The Black Friday Frenzy

With the Black Friday shopping frenzy quickly approaching we just wanted to remind our readers that the World Bird Sanctuary has many unique and environmentally friendly options for that “hard to buy for” person on your Christmas list. 

If a t-shirt is on your shopping list come and browse our large selection

 By surprising your family and friends with these one-of-a-kind gifts they will feel special because their gift will also help the World Bird Sanctuary fulfill its mission through wildlife rehabilitation and environmental education.  Your gift may help to save the life of a wildlife hospital patient, feed one of our birds for the year, or present an educational program to an underprivileged child.

Shop Green on Black Friday and give a gift with meaning!

Below is a selection of special gifts available from World Bird Sanctuary this holiday season. 

Return to the Wild! Buy a gift certificate for the release of a rehabilitated bird back into the wild.

Return to the Wild gift certificates help to treat injured birds in our hospital, such as this one

Treating a wild bird of prey admitted to our wildlife hospital can cost more than $1,000.  This special gift certificate entitles the recipient to take part in the release of a rehabilitated bird back into the wild.  Invite family and friends to release a bird of prey at your home or nearby park.  The World Bird Sanctuary Wildlife Hospital is a cornerstone of the World Bird Sanctuary, and is entirely funded by donations from the public. Help us give our patients a second chance to fly. Buy a Return to the Wild! Gift Certificate today! 

Be the one to release a rehabilitated bird of prey back to the wild!

$150.00.  Click here to order your Return to the Wild! Gift Certificate, or email Callie Plakovic, or call 636-225-4390 ext. 0 and tell the person answering that you want to purchase a Return to the Wild.

Help us Pave the Way!   Buy-a-Brick and help us pave our amphitheater while leaving a lasting impression of your environmental values!

Have your inscribed brick installed in our amphitheater

Your brick will be laid in our amphitheater.  Each year our environmental education programs teach thousands of people how to make small everyday changes that will have a lasting environmentally sustainable impact for years to come.  Your purchase of one of our engraved bricks will allow us to achieve this goal, while providing you with a new and lasting way to recognize loved ones or commemorate special occasions.  Donor certificates are available to be presented in person or to be mailed to the recipient.

For just $7.50 you can present this certificate with your inscription on it to the recipient of a brick

Options range from $125 - $425  Click here to order your Engraved Brick.

Adopt-a-Bird! Make someone special the proud adoptive parent of one of over 200 animals at World Bird Sanctuary!

Minerva, just one of the animals available for adoption

Your adoption fees help us to care for your animal for one year, as they live at the Sanctuary and travel around the country, teaching thousands of people about how to protect their friends in the wild and their habitats!  Your adoption packet includes a Certificate of Adoption, photographs and natural histories of your adopted animal and special visiting privileges.

Adoption fees range from $50 for small animals such as a Screech Owl to $150 for a majestic eagle

Adoptions range from $50 - $150.  Click here to see our gallery of animals available for adoption. In addition to the animals in our photo gallery there are dozens more that have yet to be added to our web page.  Just call Marion at 636-861-3225 if you don’t see a particular animal that you wish to adopt.

Give the Gift of Friendship!  A "Friend of World Bird Sanctuary" Gift Subscription is the gift that keeps giving all year!
Give the gift of friendship by giving your friends or family a gift subscription as a World Bird Sanctuary Friend.  WBS Friends receive invitations to "Friends only" events, and a membership card gives Friends a 10% discount on program fees at World Bird Sanctuary and on any item in our gift shop.
 

"Friends" subscriptions help to keep our birds flying

"Friends" subscriptions range from $35 - $100.  Click here to sign a friend or family member up for the "Friends" program.

Special gifts to Help our Wildlife Hospital!  All proceeds from the sale of these products go directly to treating and caring for animals in our wildlife hospital.

”Save the Future” CD

World Bird Sanctuary's in-house band, The Raptor Project’s, first CD, Save the Future. It consists of original songs about birds, the environment, and taking care of our planet.  This fun and entertaining children's CD comes with lyric sheets and education sheets embedded in the CD.  Proceeds from the sale of this CD go directly to our wildlife rehabilitation hospital to provide care of injured wild birds of prey.

Save the Future CD - $12 plus $3 shipping and handling for online orders.
Click here to order.

The Raptor Project's CDs both entertain and educate at the same time

“All Along The Watershed” CD

World Bird Sanctuary’s in-house band, The Raptor Project’s, second CD, All Along The Watershed.

This CD tells the story of the creatures that live within a watershed and stresses the importance of clean water through fun, and sometimes hilarious songs, such as The Food Chain Blues, The Greatest Possum, Mr. Frog Blues, and many others.  All proceeds from the sale of this CD go directly to our wildlife rehabilitation hospital to provide care of the 400+ injured wild birds of prey that cross its threshold each year.

All Along the Watershed CD - $12 plus $3 shipping and handling

Click here  for online orders.

“Beak to Beak” Book by Walter C. Crawford, Jr.

This book by World Bird Sanctuary Executive Director, Walter C. Crawford, Jr., is filled with his musings on wildlife, conservation, and life in general, told through a collection of short, sometimes hilarious, true-life stories. 

A great gift for the bird lover/book reader on your list

This book is available in the WBS gift shop or online.  To order online Click Here 

$10.00 on site plus $3.00 shipping and handling for online orders.

Visit our gift shop for other unique items.

Bring your Christmas list and check out the wide array of merchandise in the gift shop

Gift shop merchandise includes a large array of bird of prey themed merchandise, such as: T-shirts, jewelry, sculptures, coffee mugs, bird I.D. books, bird themed books for the kids, coloring books, and many other items too numerous to mention.  Proceeds from all gift shop items help to feed and house our birds.

Come browse our gift shop to fill out your shopping list.  The World Bird Sanctuary is open from 8 am to 5 pm every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas (barring closures for inclement weather).

The World Bird Sanctuary is a 501 (c) (3) organization and receives no federal or state funding.  All funds are raised through corporate grants and donations from individuals like you.

Join Us For A Sing-a-long

Learning CAN be fun with World Bird Sanctuary’s Sing-a-Long Programs!

 Children are invited to sing along with a live band member

Are you looking for a new and entertaining way to teach children about the environment?  Something that will hold their attention AND teach them about the creatures that share our planet?  Have you considered a Sing-a-Long  Program?

The World Bird Sanctuary’s in-house band The Raptor Project has released two popular environmental education children’s music CD’s.  “Save the Future” features songs about birds that share our sanctuary with us, and includes favorites like Turkey Named Fred, The Vulture Song, The Owl Song, Hawk of the Highway and Wonderful Birds.

The new CD, “All Along the Watershed” explores wider environmental themes with songs about watersheds and the importance of water in our everyday lives.  These important topics are covered in an entertaining way through songs like Clean Water, Mr. Frog Blues, White Pelican, Birds in my Backyard, Animal Noises and What’s the Matter.

 Educational facts are presented in a unique and entertaining way

These themes are explored in a unique sing-a-long program where children can sing along to the songs performed live by a band member, interspersed with more information about the animals in the songs.  This program uses live animals to help interpret the messages in the song, and includes your choice of “Save the Future” or “All Along the Watershed” CD.

Call our Education Department at 636-225-4390 ext. 0 to book your Sing-a-Long program today! 

You can sample songs from each CD here:

“Save the Future” 

“All Along the Watershed” 

If you are interested in purchasing either of the CD’s, you can do so here .  100% of the proceeds of Raptor Project CD sales go directly towards the care and treatment of birds admitted to our wildlife hospital.

Submitted by Joe Hoffmann, Sanctuary Manager

Water

NATIONAL DRINKING WATER WEEK IN REVIEW

As we come to the conclusion of National Drinking Water week it’s time to reflect on how we use this precious commodity.  Science tells us that we can go a week without food, but only three days without water.

Don's Bayou, Ft. Walton Beach, Florida

Since only about 1% of the earth’s fresh water is usable by humans, animals and plants, it’s time to ask ourselves what we are doing with this life sustaining resource. 

Brown Pelican, Jacksonville, Florida

The water we get from our faucets can be drawn from groundwater, surface water from lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, or desalinated seawater.  It’s time to ask ourselves what contaminants we are adding to our water table in the form of motor oil, old prescriptions, cleaning solutions, etc.  Even when these are dumped on the ground, they end up in our water sources because of runoff and absorption into the ground. 

Dorothy Falls, New Zealand's South Island

The next time you need to dispose of any of these contaminants, stop a moment and think before you dump.  Most municipalities now have recycling programs for these types of items.  I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to be drinking someone’s old motor oil, prescriptions or insecticides. 

Americans use around 100 gallons of fresh water per day.  Most of us take our clean water for granted, even abusing the privilege, believing it is a right which has no consequences.  We need to ask ourselves now--sooner rather than later--what we are doing to conserve our most precious commodity. 

A wise little cartoon character--a possum named Pogo. who lived in the Okefenokee Swamp--summed it all up when he said in a 1971 cartoon strip, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Audubon Swamp backwater in the Francis Biedler Forest

Now is the time to start training our generation and the next to practice water conservation.  Children are never too young to learn good conservation practices.  Even a 3-year old can learn the lesson of conservation if it is presented in the right context.  The Raptor Project’s CD, “All Along The Watershed” is a perfect vehicle to teach this important lesson to the youngsters.

Clean water.  We can’t live without it and neither can our wildlife.

A Yellow Crowned Night Heron stalking crayfish 

Let’s not stop thinking about this problem at the end of “Drinking Water Week”.  Let’s make Drinking Water Week a lifetime practice.

Submitted by Billie Baumann, World Bird Sanctuary Outreach Coordinator