Wild Bird Rehabilitation

Wild Bird Rehabilitation (WBR) is pleased to provide qualified internship applicants the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with wildlife in our seasonal Avian Nurseries from late April through the end of September. College students, college graduates, or people just looking for a fun hands-on experience with wildlife are all welcome. Internship positions are unpaid and housing is not provided. Applicants must be 18 years or older.

Avian Nursery interns start in late April and continue through the end of September, if possible.  Working 20 to 30 hours/week, interns complete at least 300 hours throughout the season. This internship is an unparalleled opportunity to participate in the rehabilitation process, from providing proper husbandry for birds throughout their stay, all the way through release!

With guidance from the WBR staff, you’ll get to know the species-specific care requirements for around 30 distinct species. In addition to caring for common backyard favorites like American Robins and Northern Cardinals, you’ll have experiences like teaching Barn Swallows to swoop down and catch insects mid-flight, keeping clever American Crows occupied with enrichment, witness a Carolina Wren pile in action and learn how to create a forage wonderland for Woodpeckers.

The privilege of working with these incredible birds comes with a lot of cleaning and maintenance—biosecurity, washing cages/dishes, doing laundry and other cleaning tasks that are mandatory. 

To highlight your hard work, you can participate in patient releases! Our whole team works together to keep our patients wild so that they will fly out of their kennel prepared to find food, find a mate and evade predators.

Duties and responsibilities

• Commitment of 20-30 hours per week and 300 hours minimum to complete the internship. Interns are not working directly with veterinarians
• Working with wildlife requires some labor-intensive tasks, so you must capable of lifting 30lbs, being on feet for 4+ hours, working in a hot and humid environment, bending down/sitting on the ground and working in varying weather conditions
• Following all WBR policies and procedures relating to safety, personal protective equipment, biosecurity and avian care
• Being dedicated to providing the best care possible to patients and maintaining the wild nature of patients
• Admitting new patients by setting up caging, preparing food, organizing paperwork and following protocols
• Preparing food and hand-feeding young patients, using a variety of techniques
• Maintaining caging with appropriate furnishings for a wide variety of species
• Learning to recognize signs of illness and notify medical staff when there are concerns about a patient’s health
• Administering medications
• Maintaining paperwork
• Laundering,  cleaning cages and keeping the nursery clean and orderly
• Strictly adhering to all photography and social media policies
• Treating patients, staff, volunteers and fellow interns with respect

Requirements

Our requirements for internships are fairly simple. You must, however, be very willing to do a lot of manual labor. Working with wildlife means a lot of cleaning and lifting. It means being on the ground while cleaning out cages and feeding birds. You’ll be moving cages and large boxes/bags of food and you’ll be working outside on and off throughout the day. This is a very labor-intensive, hands-on and exceptionally rewarding experience.

• 20-30 hours/wk for a minimum total of 300 hours/season
• Available days, nights, weekends, holidays
• Available for shifts beginning at 7am or ending at 8pm
• Ability to listen and follow specific instructions, apply critical thinking skills and communicate effectively
• Minimum age of 18 years
• All interns must be up-to-date on their tetanus vaccine and have health insurance

To apply, email a cover letter and resume to Wild Bird Rehabilitation’s Executive Director, Lori Moore-McMullen at wbr.edir@gmail.com. 

Wild Bird Rehabilitation (WBR) has been at the forefront of caring for ill, injured and orphaned songbirds for the past 31 years.  Each year we help an average of 2,000 patients and field 10,000 phone calls from rescuers.  We continue to be the only frontline organization in the state of Missouri providing direct medical care and support to our native wild songbirds.  We also provide public education regarding the humane treatment of wild songbirds and the conservation of their habitat.

Our work sustains native songbird populations statewide and provides educational opportunities for thousands of Missourians.  WBR is licensed and permitted by the Missouri Department of Conservation and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, a member of the National Wildlife Rehabilitation Association and the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council.