Rehabilitation

Sadly, it was too late. “The Christmas Eagle” (so named by BHRC) is yet another in what has become an increasingly long line of raptor deaths that can be avoided if hunters will make one small change. Many hunters, after they kill an animal, immediately field dress it, then leave the innards out in the open. The gut piles attract eagles and other scavengers, who then feast on the remains. Hunters may believe they’re doing the birds a favor by leaving them food, but nothing could be farther from the truth, for hidden within the innards is a silent killer: lead. Most hunters use lead shot. When...Read more

A young bald eagle that was found two years ago in emaciated condition has been rehabilitated by the northeast Indiana non-profit group Soarin’ Hawk and will be released back into the wild on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. at SalamonieReservoir. The public is invited to witness the release by Soarin’ Hawk volunteers at Salamonie Beach, 9214 Lost Bridge Road West, Andrews. The eagle will be released at Salamonie Reservoir because several pairs of eagles are in residence there. After two years of recovery, the goal is for the young raptor to connect with other eagles. In 2016, the then-six-month-old...Read more

Story via Volunteer Ruth Guerin : On Monday, June 6, my husband and I took George, the grey phase eastern screech owl to Louisville zoo. George is blind in his left eye, and I had been working with him since January 1, in my home. We met the people in the avian department that would be taking care of him during his 30 day isolation period, and also, the women in the Metazoo, which is their education center. George will live in a nicely painted, glass walled enclosure with lots of perching areas and boxes. He will also have a red phased roomie named Phoenix. George will be on the glove for...Read more

We are always disappointed when we cannot heal an injured raptor to the point that it can be returned to the wild. But this is an exciting time for Soarin' Hawk as we have been able to find homes for a record number of birds already this year - 9! In 2018 so far we have found homes for birds as close as the Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan and as far away as the Phoenix Zoo! Other placements this year are: the Talon Trust in Evansville, Indiana; the Louisville Zoo; the St. Louis Zoo; Brookgreen Gardens and Zoo in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina; and the National Aquarium in...Read more

Imping an eagle...not many understand what that means! Imp: as a noun this word is defined as " a mischievous child or a little devil or demon". But as a verb it means to "mend or repair" and specifically used in falconry to imp is to "graft feathers into a wing". This eagle had extensive feather damage due to feather mites. The mites leave characteristic angular lines of destruction as they damage the feathers, as seen in this first photo. (The feathers that are not damaged are ones that the eagle had replaced since we had treated her for mites.) As you can imagine, this bird could not fly...Read more

“We had to euthanize this raptor because the fracture was not repairable” … may not make any sense to those outside of raptor rehabilitation. So let us try and explain. The end goal/requirement of wildlife rehabilitation is to release the animal back into the wild. But it must not be released with any physical impairment that would make it either unable to hunt for its own food or be more vulnerable to injury or to a predator. If an animal is not releasable back into the wild we can occasionally place a bird in qualified institution (zoo, etc.) that wants the animal. But there are even...Read more