Volunteer Needs From: WVU Center for Community Engagement

Thank you for your interest volunteering with the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving the region’s wild birds through research, education, and rehabilitation. We were founded in 2012 and each year admit more than 500 injured or displaced wild birds and conduct environmental education programs throughout the region.

Typically, our volunteers each commit to one day of the week to help feed the birds and clean their enclosures. This is ongoing -- so if you commit to Tuesdays, for example, you come out every Tuesday until a time in the future when you decide you don't want to volunteer any longer or until your schedule changes or you leave town, etc. We try to schedule three or four volunteers per day—this makes the work go more quickly, and it helps with coverage if someone is away. Completing all of the daily volunteer duties takes at least one hour but typically not more than two.

Daily duties include preparing diets for all the birds; this includes cutting up dead rodents, chicks, quail, fish, or small roadkill (squirrels, rabbits), and handling live insects. Also, each day the newspapers are changed in the bottoms of all indoor cages. Any especially dirty cage pans, grates, or perches should be taken to the sink and scrubbed. Some patients will require medication; usually, this can be injected into or hidden inside the diet. Daily duties also include cleaning the counters, doorknobs, floor, and all other areas that get messy. There are also often "extra" tasks that vary depending on need -- disinfecting cages, doing the laundry, cleaning the air filter, putting away shipments of food or supplies, etc.

We also conduct educational programs featuring live, non-releasable birds. You are welcome to come help with our programs, and we can train you to work with the non-releasable birds in our care. All of the birds in our care are trained using positive reinforcement methods recommended by the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators. 

The time of day that volunteers meet varies depending on the day and volunteer availability, but in general the birds need to be fed at least one hour before sunset. We are located on the same property as Cheat Lake Animal Hospital (about a 20-minute drive from downtown Morgantown and WVU).

If you're still interested, sign up for this need and indicate what day(s) and time that you many be available, and we will get back to you to schedule. Thank you!