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Susan Kipprien cares for a baby robin. (JOHN MORSTAD/The Gazette)

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Pierrefonds woman opens bird sanctuary

Expects to care for hundreds of injured wild birds

Karen Seidman
The Gazette
Thursday, July 3, 2008

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Susan Kipprien cares for a baby robin. (JOHN MORSTAD/The Gazette)

Some Pierrefonds residents might think their neighbourhood has gone to the birds.
They wouldn’t be wrong. Susan Kipprien has opened a wild bird sanctuary at her Pierrefonds home – the only one serving the West Island on the island of Montreal – and she could be treating hundreds of injured birds there this summer.
She’s already known as the “bird lady,” so it made sense that the former volunteer for Le Nichoir in Hudson would venture out on her own to help injured birds.
Until a young robin hit her living room window eight years ago, Kipprien had never really thought about how to administer first aid to birds. But when the injured robin’s mother left its side, she picked it up and called Le Nichoir, a wild bird rehabilitation centre, for directions on what to do.
“I decided that this was something I could do,” said Kipprien, a local activist and environmentalist who says her wild bird rehabilitation centre has the support of her Pierrefonds neighbours. She has set up a flight house with netting, big cages and branches to offer the birds she cares for the right kind of environment.
She said she typically helps about 700 birds a summer. And she’s had as many as 33 in a day. The people who find the injured birds are often in more distress than the birds, according to Kipprien. And she’s the only one who takes pigeons.
She’s helped birds that are trapped in fireplaces, dryer vents, chimneys and swimming pools.
“I offer my services free,” she said. “I survive on donations.”
Le Nichoir president Josée Bonneville said she welcomed Kipprien’s rehab centre.
“There are so many wild birds in distress in this region,” Bonneville said. “There’s way too many to handle.”
To contact Kipprien, call 514-620-3568. To contact Le Nichoir, call 450-458-2809 or go to www.lenichoir.org.