EVERY NIGHT, Donna Powell goes looking for birds. Armed with flashlights, she and a handful of other volunteers slog through the waterlogged suburbs of New Orleans, tracking down addresses and, if necessary, breaking down doors to rescue pet parrots left behind in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"About a week after the hurricane hit, the calls and e-mails started coming in," said Powell, a registered nurse who 18 months ago quit her job to run the 911 Parrot Alert Web site and Yahoo mailing list for reuniting lost parrots with their families. "They say, please, I had to leave my bird, can you help me?"

With local humane societies and other shelters filled to overflowing with the four-legged homeless, the task of rescuing abandoned pet birds has fallen largely to Powell. In fact, her home just outside Baton Rouge, where an influx of refugees has more than doubled the human population, is headquarters for perhaps the biggest coordinated pet bird rescue effort in Louisiana. Veterinarians, disaster-rescue experts and other bird lovers, some traveling from as far away as Canada, have converged on the four-bedroom residence to help Powell care for feathered refugees.

No one seems to know exactly how many birds they have rescued so far, but Powell estimates it is between 200 and 300. Cages filled with parrotlets, cockatiels, ringnecks, Amazons, cockatoos, macaws and other species crowd the patio and every room of the house, until recently home only to Powell and her 18-year-old son, Neil, and their five pet birds. Volunteers, six or seven people at any one time, sleep where they can; others have brought tents.

When they aren't feeding, medicating or cleaning up emaciated, muck-covered birds, the group makes runs into New Orleans and surrounding areas to rescue more.

While floodwaters still prevent the rescuers from reaching some areas, they already have been able to save scores of birds who otherwise would have starved to death by now. One of the most dramatic rescues was of four cockatiels and a conure left behind in a third-story apartment in Metairie. It had been a week since the owners had fled the city with no room in their car for the cages. Guided by the owners on a cell phone and with the permission of the building's owner, Powell, her son and another volunteer rammed the door and found the birds inside the dark, muggy apartment.

"There were helicopters circling overhead shining their spotlights on us; people weren't really allowed to be out," said Powell.

At another home, volunteers successfully rescued two dozen parrotlets, ringnecks and other small parrots from a large flight.

Not every attempt has had a happy ending. Rescuers broke into one garage to find the bodies of over 30 birds, most of them macaws. "If only they had raised the cages," said parrot behavior expert Mattie Sue Athan, who drove from Oklahoma to help Powell. "If only, if only. The water made it just to the top of the cages and the birds drowned." The only survivors were three blue-and-gold macaws who had managed to escape their enclosures.

In Woodmere, La., a mostly dried-out but heavily damaged suburb, the rescuers were luckier. Guided once more by owners on a cell phone, they entered a home where four pet birds, a ringneck, green parakeet and two Quakers, had been left seven days earlier. Although most of the roof had caved in, all four pets were found safe in the bathroom, which was centrally located. In this case, the owners' decision to place the birds' cages in the bathtub had been protection enough.

Everywhere they go, the volunteers see the same surreal sights as other rescue personnel. "It’s a nightmare, like something from a science fiction movie," said Athan in one of her postings to a bird mailing list. "Mold and high water marks and starving dogs foaming at the mouth in deserted streets."

While a few local authorities have reacted callously to abandoned pets by "humanely" shooting starving dogs, the majority have welcomed animal rescue efforts, including Powell's, said Athan. "The military, local police, and highway patrol remain very, very helpful in getting us in. The highway patrol officers call us over and over to come back for other animals."

What's next
The first wave of volunteers who arrived to help 911 Parrot Alert in early September are "pretty close to burn out from almost-round-the-clock work," said Athan, who herself sounded tired and hoarse in a phone interview.

However, the bird community is pulling together to keep the rescue effort going. "We just sent off a truck provided by the AFA [American Federation of Aviculture] loaded with supplies to send east into Mississippi, the heart of the devastation," said Athan. "We have been wonderfully inundated with an amazing outpouring of needed supplies."

Bird welfare groups across the country, including KnappTime Adoption, Rescue and Education of Michigan, Mickaboo Cockatiel Rescue of California and Midwest Avian Adoption and Rescue Service of Minnesota, have sent supplies, personnel or both.

"I have lots of muck on the undercarriage, but a nice new red flashing light atop my minivan," said Athan.

Bird cage and food vendors, such as The Birdsafe Store, are pitching in, too, by arranging for free or discounted supplies.

Someone was expected to arrive Saturday to enclose Powell’s carport and another volunteer said he was bringing a boat, she said. However, the group still needs many things, including fresh volunteers, especially avian medical personnel, who can examine sick and injured birds and plan and administer appropriate diets. They need people who can coordinate owner-pet reunions and who can transport supplies from drop-off points to Powell’s house.

Also still needed: bird food for all species (including hand-feeding formula), cages, perches, toys, cage cleaning supplies, towels, trash bags and cans, bleach, nets (for catching birds), finer nets (like mosquito netting), Cuttlebone, newspaper, bowls and dishes, syringes, carriers for transport to the vet, clothes hampers, a back-up generator, a large food processor, a washer and dryer, freezer, commercial cooler, Clorox hand wipes, metal cart with wheels and Poop-off.

Aviary is planned
Since Powell intends to personally foster as many of the birds she has received as possible until their owners can retrieve them, an aviary will be built on her property.

"Volunteers are needed to go down and help with this long term project," said Aaron Davis, director of Lost and Found for 911ParrotAlert. "Please email disasterrelief@911parrotalert.com only if you can go down and help."

As Powell's home overflows with birds, the group also needs temporary portable storage buildings with windows for light and air filters.

Another long-term goal is to send every bird home "in a better cage than it came in," said Athan. "You'd be amazed at what had been thrown together to get these birds out. A cage that falls apart is a lost bird. I lost a parrotlet trying to take it down from a high hook still hanging over toxic soup yesterday. We'll have to go back and try to capture that bird today."

Donations may be mailed to Donna Powell, 16365 Woodmere, Baton Rouge, LA, 70819. To make a tax-deductible donation, you may go through Midwest Avian Adoption & Rescue Service, a nonprofit organization. MAARS will use all earmarked donations to send food and supplies to Baton Rouge.

To make a donation to KARE, Powell's primary on-site bird rescue partner, go to KnappTime Adoption, Rescue and Education.

The first reunions
Already, thanks to the effort spearheaded by Powell, two cages of small birds have been returned to their happy owners. In the weeks and months to come, Powell expects many more tearful reunions. In the meantime, she concentrates on the enormous task at hand. It does not seem to daunt her.

With a cacophony of squawks and chirps in the background of a phone conversation, she enthusiastically described the tiniest survivor so far: a just-hatched parakeet pulled from a nest box. "He was no bigger than my little finger," she marveled. "He had no feathers. Now there's a little green."