Couple trades in trauma rooms for bird rescue on Saipan

The story of Saipan Bird Rescue and its founders is a story of how two physicians transformed from trauma care royalty to angels of winged patients soon after arriving on the island.

For decades, Dr. Tom Flowers and Dr. Roxanne Richter worked on the front lines of human trauma—treating fractures, critical injuries, and life-or-death emergencies.

When the couple arrived on Saipan two years ago, that experience found an unexpected extension—caring for the island’s injured and orphaned wild birds.

“Currently, I'm a physician in the family care clinic at the hospital here on Saipan. My background is mostly emergency medicine,” Flowers said. “I did emergency medicine for 32 years in the U.S. and also for six months here.”

Richter brings a similarly intensive background.

“I'm a global health professor, but I'm also a paramedic,” she said.

It was that shared trauma-care experience—combined with a long history of caring for birds—that led them to establish Saipan Bird Rescue, now the island’s only fully licensed wild bird rehabilitation operation.

“So that's why we decided to start Saipan Bird Rescue because both of us are… I'm a trauma queen, and he's a trauma king,” Richter said. “So we very much enjoy all the beautiful birds here. And when we realized that there wasn't a vet on the island who would take care of birds, we decided to put our knowledge to work.”

Soon after arriving on Saipan, the couple discovered a critical gap in animal care. While veterinarians occasionally visit the island, avian medicine is highly specialized.

“They weren't necessarily interested in doing what we call avian care or bird care, which is unfortunately very, very different from taking care of a dog or a cat,” Richter said.

Both physicians had extensive experience with birds long before moving to the CNMI.

“Having had lots of peacocks, India blue peacocks back in Kentucky, and ring-tailed pheasants, and all kinds of different types of exotic chickens that we've taken care of,” Richter said.

Rather than operate informally, the couple pursued full certification and licensing for migratory bird rehabilitation, working closely with the Saipan Humane Society, the CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Richter completed intensive avian and seabird training during a weeklong seminar in Seattle, while Flowers undertook specialized oil-spill response training—critical knowledge for island ecosystems.

The rescue became fully certified last year.

They also built a licensed aviary at their residence, investing about $5,000 largely out of pocket, with support from longtime Saipan bird rescuer Randy Harper and permission from their landlady, Gina Cushney.

Since then, Saipan Bird Rescue has taken in dozens of birds, including white terns, fairy terns, tropicbirds, plovers, frigatebirds, shearwaters, kingfishers, moorhens, yellow bitterns, and the Marianas fruit dove.

“These are shorebirds, these are seabirds, and these are birds that really no one is terribly familiar with unless you live out on these islands,” Richter said.

Many of the birds arrive after suffering preventable injuries—most commonly cat attacks, window strikes, nest falls, dehydration, or fractures. Richter said these cases often begin with well-meaning residents unsure what to do after finding a bird on the ground.

“A normal, healthy, wild bird is not gonna let you pick it up,” said Flowers.

The first and most important rule, Richter stressed, is not to feed the bird.

“We ask the public, please, No. 1, do not try to feed them,” Richter said. “We've had people feed them spaghetti sauce and rice and all kinds of things. If you don't find it in nature, they don't eat it.”

Instead, she said, the public should focus on assessing whether the bird is injured and how old it is. Hatchlings—birds with closed eyes, bare skin, and yellow or pink at the base of the bill—should be returned to the nest whenever possible.

“Parents feed chicks better than we can,” Richter said, adding that people should not worry about human scent.

Chicks with open eyes and partial feathers may need gentle assistance, while fledglings—fully feathered but clumsy birds—are often simply learning to fly.

“While they look awkward and clumsy, they are just learning and their parents are nearby watching over them,” Richter said.

Only when a bird is bleeding, has broken bones, or is in immediate danger from cars, cats, or dogs should it be removed and brought to the rescue.

If transport is necessary, Richter said the bird should be placed in a small, ventilated box, kept warm, and delivered as quickly as possible.

“Those are precious moments that we can rehydrate the bird and take care of it,” she said.

Recovery can take weeks or even months, particularly for nestlings that require frequent feedings and species-specific diets. Despite their best efforts, not every case ends in success.

“Emergency medicine… it's not always good outcomes,” Richter said.

The mission, she emphasized, is always rehabilitation and release—not captivity.

“This is a rehabilitate, rescue, rehab, and release,” Richter said. “We do not keep these birds as pets. They're not pets. They should go back into the wild.”

Richter also said the rescue’s work was strengthened last year after Saipan Bird Rescue received a $500 educational materials grant from the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association. She said the grant helped fund specialized training and coursework critical to improving the care of injured birds on Saipan.

For the couple, the most rewarding moments come when that goal is achieved—when a bird once treated in their care returns to the sky.

“When you see them, and you succeed in getting them to be released, it's like these white terns,” said Flowers. “They were just little chicks, and all of a sudden, they're flying way up high, which is where they're supposed to be.”

He said those moments never lose their meaning.

“So, it makes you feel happy to do that,” he said.

Residents who find an injured or orphaned bird are urged to contact Saipan Bird Rescue at (670) 785-9390, or the Division of Fish and Wildlife at (670) 664-6017 on Saipan or (670) 532-6000 on Rota.