Nine-year Wild Bird Rehab veteran Diane Doster is looking forward to a busy spring after helping a few birds over winter for a spring release and tending to a relatively calm healing population.

Doster has been a volunteer with Wild Bird Rehab for more than eight years. This past year she accepted a paid position as center manager working three days a week. Her responsibilites include purchasing, daytime scheduling and training volunteers on shifts.

"I love working here," said doster. "Not a single day is the same and I'm always glad I'm here." When Doster first volunteered, she started in the fall and was acclimated before the spring babies arrived. "It's always best when volunteers can start in the winter and learn the routine and where everything is before we hop into spring."

In the spring, the baby birds are fed from 8am to 9 pm. "We need three shifts each day with four volunteers to be adequately staffed," said Doster. "We hope that people will consider helping us out - we just can't survive without our volunteers."

When volunteers work at Wild Bird Rehab, they not only help the birds but they join a communit of others interested in the bird welfare and in each other. "Our volunteers have such varied backgrounds. I have learned so much about them, thier interests and thier families. And I also know there isn't anything that they wouldn't do for these birds."

The past few weeks, Doster has been caring for the few pigeons in the outside aviaries. "We didn't think we would be able to release the female. She had a bacterial infection in a wing joint. She didn't fly and didn't even sit on her perch," said Doster.

Enter one handsome Mr. Pigeon. "The transformation was unreal. When she isn't sitting on her nest, she is perched next to him. Isn't spring great? Love is everywhere an it can help heal a sickly bird," said Doster.

Doster recognizes and appreciates each bird's very distinct personality. With so many types of birds that come to Wild Bird Rehab injured or orphaned, does Doster have a favorite? "Every bird that I'm working with is my favorite. The need us and St. Louis needs and organization like ours. Imagine if there was no place to take an injured songbird?"