WARSAW — The Warsaw Zoo opened a 24-hour emergency drop-off center for sick and injured wild birds at its entrance in February. The system consists of automated metal containers that lock the birds in, keep them warm in winter, and send an immediate signal to the bird hospital located a few meters away.

The system operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new drop-off center is boosting the efficiency of the bird hospital. Ornithologist Andrzej Kruszewicz, the zoo director, developed the idea for the emergency drop-off center. The box system locks injured birds inside to keep them safe until a veterinarian can collect them.

When a male bullfinch smashed into Marcin Jarzębski's apartment window, he brought it the next morning to the emergency room at the Warsaw Zoo. Jarzębski placed the bullfinch, which had a black head, gray back, and reddish chest feathers, into a shoebox and dropped it off at the zoo entrance container. He filled out a questionnaire and placed the shoebox and paper form into one of the containers. "The bird stayed with us overnight, but unfortunately it probably has a broken wing so we brought it to the bird hospital," Jarzębski said.

Warsaw Zoo has operated a bird hospital since 1998 that treats about 9,000 patients annually. Typical patients at the Warsaw Zoo bird hospital include common songbirds such as tits, sparrows, thrushes, starlings, and pigeons. Warsaw has the Vistula River running through it, and rarer bird species can appear at the hospital.

Warm winters caused by climate change have led birds that previously migrated south, including cranes and herons, to stay in Poland. "Birds who stopped migrating because of warm winters were caught off guard by such a harsh winter as this year," said Andżelika Gackowska, hospital manager. Some birds developed anemia during the cold months because of tough conditions and insufficient nutrition, making them more vulnerable to disease.

In the bird hospital, veterinary assistants feed and administer medicine to the various birds in separate rooms based on species and degree of illness. Once birds are stronger, they are placed in large outdoor cages to adjust to their natural environment before being released.

The emergency room was financed in part with money from Warsaw's citizen budget, a program that selects projects based on popularity in online surveys of city residents. Zoo workers warn that people should not pick up young, healthy birds that they might mistakenly believe are orphans.