The Bird Lady of Collins River
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She has been dubbed ?The Bird Lady on Collins River? by the many people that have solicited her help with their avian concerns. She has helped nurse birds of all kinds with all sorts of ailments ranging from predator attacks to broken legs and wings. She resuscitated a cockatiel that fell in a fish bowl, turkeys that stumbled into the swimming pool, given CPR to a bird after flying into a window and raised many orphaned ducks and geese.
Byars? story does not begin with these instances. It began many years ago in the 1930s when she and her sister Mildred helped their parents raise hundreds of baby chicks in a brooder house using a wood-burning brick furnace. After hatching and being turned out in a lot, they would eat cockle burs and if let go, would eventually die.
Evelyn remembers, ?I would hold the baby chicks while mom would operate and open up the craw with a razor blade, remove the bur and sew it up with a needle and white thread. It was my job to nurse the baby chick for a few days until it was better. That?s the way my hobby began many years ago.?
Much of Evelyn?s time has been spent helping to care for her granddaughter, Dawn Carter, who suffers from spina bifida. When Dawn was 17 they purchased their first turtle doves. They were so fascinated with them, they returned the next day to purchase more. Dove houses were constructed and Evelyn?s daughter, Carolyn Bickford and her husband Randall, built a 10 x 20 aviary fly pen for the growing flock. They could have as many as 80 doves at one time and close to 30 white silky bantams. The doves were used in weddings, funerals and some even traveled to California.
Many animals of all kinds have been brought to Evelyn because they were hurt or orphaned. Most of the injured are nursed back to health and then released into the wild.
If they cannot be released, they are made comfortable on the farm. A perfect example is a 9-year-old gray dove that?s missing a leg, thigh and foot that was attacked by a mink.
Another is white dove that is blind, but can eat, drink and care for herself. Evelyn would like for some young girl to fall in love with her and offer her a good home.
At 82, Evelyn is turning the life-long hobby over to her daughters Gloria Grissom and Bickford, her granddaughter Dawn and great-grandson Aiden Grissom. Each are taking some of the responsibility, but of course, Evelyn will keep some of her precious birds for her own enjoyment.
She said, ?My pain is not half as bad when I?m taking care of my birds. They are great pain relievers.?