Featured Volunteer: Dara Torgerson

Article from “The Mickaboo Bird Rescue Companion”
Published September, 2023

By Dara Torgerson

Dara and Rainbow

[Editor's Note: Dara was selected as Mickaboo's Featured Volunteer due to her participation on several volunteer teams and initiatives. Let's learn more about Dara in her own words below, lightly edited for length, and her involvement with Mickaboo.]

I found Mickaboo while looking for Bay Area volunteer opportunities. I used to work with parrots professionally and had a cherry-headed conure for 25 years before they passed away. After returning to the Bay Area in 2020, I started to explore volunteer opportunities and searched for “parrot rescue” on the internet. Mickaboo was the first to pop-up so I signed up for the basic bird care course to learn more and ultimately adopted 2 conures.

I help with the Macaw and Conure teams, home visits, medical transport, bird surrenders and adoptions, and fostering conures. My oldest daughter joins me for toy-making and outreach activities and it’s been fun to share this with her! If I’m being honest though, what I enjoy most is getting to know and work with foster birds, which in many cases means helping them regain their physical and emotional health. Mooshi and Julian

My most memorable Mickaboo experiences involve two particularly distressing rescues. However, the most inspiring experience has been joining a few volunteers at sunrise to witness the Wild Conures of San Francisco abruptly come alive with clamorous activity and soar off into groups to explore the City.

If someone is considering volunteering with Mickaboo - I’d say go for it! There are many ways to help both big and small. Yes it can be hard, and you may see some of the more difficult sides of humanity, but ultimately the good outweighs the bad and it’s empowering to be part of the solution. As an added perk you’ll get to know a lot of bird people and join a fun community!

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Featured Volunteer: Dara Torgerson