Courtesy Photo Four ducklings are seen in a cage at Ashley Kolnowski’s bird sanctuary in Ossineke. These ducklings were turned over to her care after being found in a box at the end of a driveway.

By KAYLA WIKARYASZ

News Staff Writer

ALPENA — Alpena’s Bird Center (ABC) sanctuary, owned and operated by Ashley Kolnowski, received eight orphaned wood ducklings over the weekend, four of which died, that were dropped off in a box at the end of a driveway.

Kolnowski explained that four of the eight ducklings died because they are a “high stress bird.”

“We know that they were freshly hatched because they had their eggs too still on their beak…four of them passed away the first night… it’s just hard to rehab them.”

Kolnowski received the orphans over the weekend and surmises that an unknown individual/individuals found the ducklings and assumed they were abandoned. She explained that wood ducks are a “very secretive kind of duck.” That means, if they see humans, they’re going to run and hide.

“I’m assuming what happened was that humans approached…Mama talked to her babies and said ‘Stay low and hide’,” Kolnowski said. “To protect her babies they go away while humans are in the area…I’m assuming the people came across the ducklings and then just grabbed them when they should’ve been left alone…mom definitely would’ve come back.”

Kolnowski explained that the situation is complicated because she is unable to look for the mother to reunite the ducklings because she doesn’t know where they were taken from.

“We are very lucky that they stayed in the box and didn’t jump out because that’s a natural instinct,” Kolnowski said. “They nest high up in trees…then the babies jump out as soon as they hatch.”

The recent deaths of the ducklings are not a unique event at Kolnowski’s sanctuary, unfortunately. Last Tuesday, Kolnowski received multiple robins that were poisoned by insecticides, all of which perished.

“Robins eat earthworms so when you spray the ground for bugs, the earthworms end up getting the insecticide on them,” Kolnowski said. “Because robins are primarily earthworm eaters, they are typically the number one to get insecticide poisoning.”

Kolnowski said that the best repellent against insects is to let birds eat them.

“The natural thing is to let the birds eat bugs,” Kolnowski said.

Though Kolnowski understands that community members are concerned about ticks, she said that the job of birds is to manage insect populations. She believes there has been a decrease in bird populations, thus resulting in a larger insect population

According to Kolnowski, cat attacks may be one reason for smaller bird populations. She cited a study that found one billion birds die each year from cat attacks.

“The little babies that live on the ground for three to 10 days trying to learn how to fly…they are almost always victims of cat attacks…domestic cats…they’re not supposed to be outside. They’re not part of our natural environment.”

Overall, Kolnowski said community members should call her before taking any animal or bird from the wild.

“There’s been lots of babies recently (at the sanctuary) that are just fledglings,” Kolnowski said. “The parents do the best job…I can only do so much. And it’s better for them to learn how to be a bird if we can keep them with mom.”

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.