This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Burge Bird Services is a bird-only veterinary hospital on 71 Highway in Grandview, founded in 1990 and run ever since by Julie Burge, DVM as a solo practice. It treats nothing but birds — parrots, finches, backyard chickens and ducks, and non-native wild birds like pigeons and sparrows — and the clinic states it is the Kansas City area’s only exclusively avian veterinary hospital. Alongside it Dr. Burge runs Burge Bird Rescue, a companion-bird rescue and sanctuary that houses over a hundred birds at any time. The practice is owner-operated with no corporate affiliation of any kind.

Description

Burge Bird Services is an exclusively avian veterinary hospital at 13833 South 71 Highway in Grandview, on the metro’s southern edge. The practice describes itself as “the Kansas City area’s only exclusively avian veterinary hospital, providing medicine, surgery, trimming, boarding, and house calls.”1

It is a solo practice. Julie Burge, DVM founded it in 1990 and is still its only veterinarian, supported by seven part-time staff whose avian experience is described as running from ten to twenty years each.23 The hospital works by appointment only, five days a week, and Dr. Burge is sometimes available for after-hours emergencies — though the practice asks pointedly that clients not “wait until after hours to call about a problem that has been going on for days or weeks.”45

The species range is unusually wide for a bird practice and reaches well past the pet trade: finches and parrots, but also backyard poultry, domestic ducks, and non-native wild birds such as pigeons and sparrows.3 The clinic runs isoflurane anesthesia, electrosurgical equipment and endoscopy, and its building is divided into separate rooms for hospital care, boarding, adoption, sanctuary housing and quarantine, with outdoor pens for waterfowl.3

Some services can be delivered at the client’s home — grooming, laboratory sample collection and medication dispensing are all offered as house calls, while anesthesia, surgery and radiographs require the bird to come to the hospital.4 The practice also arranges visits to bird clubs, pet stores and veterinary hospitals in outlying locations “so we can provide care to birds far from Kansas City.”6

Alongside the hospital, Dr. Burge runs Burge Bird Rescue, which takes in companion birds, rehomes them through an adoption programme covering parrots, budgies, cockatiels, pigeons, doves and finches, and keeps a permanent sanctuary population for birds that cannot be rehomed.7 The rescue holds over a hundred birds at any given time.3

The clinic’s website is idiosyncratic in a way that reflects the practice: a long-running Homestead site with pages of patient photographs organised into “The Big Bad Birds” (Amazons, African greys and macaws “who do their best to leave permanant scars on the bird doctor”), “The Tiny Terrors” (parakeets, cockatiels and conures “who despite their size can put up a good fight when it comes to getting their nails trimmed”), and “Our Little Miracle Birds.”6

Goods and services

Veterinary

  • Avian medicine — all species of birds, exclusively; no dogs, cats or other mammals13
  • Avian surgery, under isoflurane anesthesia, with electrosurgical equipment13
  • Endoscopy and radiographs3
  • Laboratory diagnostics, including in-home sample collection43
  • Emergency care — some after-hours availability by message45

Non-clinical

  • Grooming — wing and nail trimming14
  • Boarding for pet birds14
  • House calls — grooming, sample collection and medication dispensing at the client’s home4
  • Off-site visits to bird clubs, pet stores and veterinary hospitals outside the metro6
  • Bird food retail — Zupreem, Kaytee, Roudybush and Harrison’s diets1

Rescue and sanctuary (Burge Bird Rescue)

  • Intake and adoption of companion birds — parrots, budgies, cockatiels, pigeons, doves and finches7
  • Permanent sanctuary housing for non-adoptable birds73
  • Quarantine facilities and outdoor waterfowl pens3

History

Julie Burge earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1983 and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1987. Her interest in pet-bird medicine began while she was living in upstate New York, where — by her own account — there were no veterinarians in the area who would treat birds. She began adopting unwanted birds and started breeding cockatiels and parakeets in 1988. After returning to Kansas City she founded Burge Bird Services in 1990 and built it into an exclusively avian practice.2

She keeps roughly eighty-five parrots of her own, formerly used for breeding and now retired, along with four rescued dogs, eight rescued cats and a collection of macaws and African greys.2

Dr. Burge serves as the Association of Avian Veterinarians representative for the state of Missouri and has lectured twice at the association’s conference on disaster response and animal rescue for the avian veterinarian.2 The practice website carries a dedicated Hurricane Katrina page, and Dr. Burge has been described as having deployed to natural and manmade disasters — see the note below on the sourcing of that claim.6

By her own telling she has accumulated “a few good ‘bird attacking the doctor’ stories,” the favourite involving a double yellow-headed Amazon hanging from her lower lip.2

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Burge Bird Services — official homepage — asserts: the practice describes itself as “The Kansas City area’s only exclusively avian veterinary hospital, providing medicine, surgery, trimming, boarding, and house calls”; it stocks Zupreem, Kaytee, Roudybush and Harrison’s bird diets; it links to the associated Burge Bird Rescue for birds available for adoption. Site is a self-managed Homestead build with no corporate-parent reference. (Retrieved 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. Burge Bird Services — official “Our Staff” page — asserts: Julie Burge, DVM earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1983 and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1987; she became interested in pet-bird medicine while living in upstate New York where no area veterinarians would treat birds; she began adopting unwanted birds and started breeding cockatiels and parakeets in 1988; “After returning to Kansas City, she started Burge Bird Services in 1990”; she owns about 85 retired breeding parrots and her practice treats birds exclusively; she is the Association of Avian Veterinarians representative for the state of Missouri and has lectured at their conference twice on disaster response and animal rescue for the avian veterinarian; her personal pets include 4 rescued dogs, 8 rescued cats, 4 blue-and-gold macaws, 1 scarlet macaw, 1 green-wing macaw and 5 African grey parrots; her email is BurgeBirdServices@yahoo.com; the “bird attacking the doctor” anecdote about the double yellow-headed Amazon. This is the primary ownership and founding proof. Page carries an “Updated On: 11/18/2022” stamp. (Retrieved 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine — Offsite Electives listing, “Burge Bird Services & Rescue, MO” — asserts: the address 13833 S US Highway 71, Grandview, MO 64030; supervisor Julie Burge, DVM; the practice is “a 100% avian veterinary hospital serving the Kansas City area”; it is a solo practice with seven part-time support staff with 10 to 20 years of avian experience; the associated non-profit rescue houses “over 100 birds in our rescue at all times”; species treated include finches, parrots, non-native wild birds such as pigeons and sparrows, domestic ducks and backyard poultry; equipment includes isoflurane anesthesia, electrosurgical equipment and endoscopy; the facility has separate rooms for hospital care, boarding, adoption, sanctuary housing and quarantine, plus outdoor pens for waterfowl; approximately 40 hours of veterinary supervision weekly across a 39-hour operating schedule. This is the strongest independent (third-party, institutional) confirmation of the practice’s scale, staffing and current operation. (Retrieved 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  4. Burge Bird Services — official “Our Practice” page — asserts: “Burge Bird Services is an exclusively avian practice, offering grooming and boarding for your pet birds, as well as medical and surgical care”; grooming, laboratory sample collection and medication dispensing can be performed in the client’s home, while anesthesia, surgery and radiographs require a hospital visit; the office is at 13833 South 71 Highway in Grandview, Missouri; the practice works by appointment only on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; it is sometimes available for after-hours emergencies on nights and weekends; contact block reads “Burge Bird Services / Julie Burge, DVM / 13833 S. 71 Hwy / Grandview, MO 64030 / (816) 356-4700.” Page carries an “Updated On: 5/2/2024” stamp. (Retrieved 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. Burge Bird Services — official “Emergencies” page — asserts: the practice’s after-hours emergency policy — “Dr. Burge is available for some after hours emergencies,” clients should leave a message, and the practice asks that clients not wait until after hours to call about a long-running problem; it notes five local animal emergency clinics with variable bird coverage depending on the doctor on duty. Also carries common-emergency guidance on bleeding, fractures, breathing, wounds and egg laying. (Retrieved 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2

  6. Burge Bird Services — official “Patients & Clients” page — asserts: the practice’s patient photo galleries are organised as “The Big Bad Birds” (Amazons, African greys, macaws), “The Tiny Terrors” (parakeets, cockatiels, conures), “Our Little Miracle Birds” and an “In Memorium” section; “We are happy to arrange visits to bird clubs, pet stores, and veterinary hospitals in distant locations so we can provide care to birds far from Kansas City”; the contact block repeating Julie Burge, DVM at 13833 S. 71 Hwy, Grandview, MO 64030, (816) 356-4700. The site navigation also carries a dedicated Hurricane Katrina page at burgebirdservices.homestead.com (linked but not read this pass — see note below). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Burge Bird Rescue — official site — asserts: the rescue operates from 13833 S 71 Hwy, Grandview, MO 64030, phone 816-356-4700, email BurgeBirdRescue@yahoo.com; it runs adoption programmes with separate listings for parrots, budgies, cockatiels, and pigeons/doves/finches; it maintains sanctuary birds and a “Rescue Room”; it links back to the associated veterinary practice. (Retrieved 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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On the record — ks.city/registry/burge-bird-services · record updated 2026-08-14