Wildlife centre takes in seabirds with head trauma, broken bones after storm

A wildlife refuge onNova Scotia's Eastern Shore isbusy treating more than 60 seabirdsdisplaced and injured during last week's storm.

"They got picked up in those huge winds, got blown aroundand out of control," saidHopeSwinimer, the founder of Hope for Wildlife inSeaforth, N.S. "If you were out and the winds almost blew you around, you can imagine what it would do to a bird."

• Wild weather wreaks havoc on Windsor-Essex animals

Swinimer saidmany of the seabirds, including sea ducks, dovekies, loons and gulls, were exhausted. Otherscame in withinjuries, including a sea duck with head trauma and several seagulls that had broken legs and wings.

"That would either be from acollision with a pole, a buildingor vehicle," she said.

By the peak of the storm,the centre had received 400 calls and people lined up outside with birds in boxes, buckets and blankets.

Swinimersaidwhile mostmammals are hibernating right now and would have been protected from the storm, seabirds were at the mercy of the weather.

• Community rallies behind Canuck the crow after suspected head injury

The centre's veterinarian, Krystal Woo, saidshe treated dozens of confused little black and white birds called dovekiesthat had been blown kilometres inland. The species, which only comes near land to nest, is only able to take flight from water.

"A lot of them are unable to walk on land, and therefore they can't get back into the air in order to fly back to where they came from," Woosaid.

While they couldn't save all of them, the centre was able to rehabilitate and release 70 per cent of the birds that were brought in.

Meanwhile, Swinimer says she expects to see more birds coming into the centre over the next several days.

"I just find it amazing and heartwarming that people care so muchthat they find a tiny bird they know is in distress...and go through that effort of scooping it up and bringing it in to us," she said.

• Owl hit and caught in SUV survives