DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center

May Appreciation Post! Or should we say, “appreciation that May is over”, post. May is always the busiest month for rehabbers with a huge jump of patient intakes and phone calls, but also without all of our summer employees to tend to all these extras. The combination of peak spring bird migration and a boom of babies is a lot to handle. In May alone, we admitted 2,735 patients! We released 817 animals and fostered 27 babies. By the end of the month, the number of animals in care soared to over 1100 patients. Whew! It’s all smooth sailing from here, right? Just kidding, the next four months will certainly keep us busy, but with extra staff and settling in to the day to day routines of a full hospital, we’re getting into the rhythm as we do every year. Enjoy some of our May arrivals!

There are still spaces available in our new summer camp, Beak Week! This camp is all about birds and will include bird walks, bird games and activities, care for birds in the hospital, and more! Beak Week is for campers entering 7th - 8th grade. Find more information and register here: https://www.dupageforest.org/things-to-do/day-camps

***Patient of the Week***

This week is all about the owlets. We’ve had several great horned owlets since March, but some new species have shown up. While not uncommon owls in Illinois, we don’t treat as many eastern screech owls or barred owls as great horned.

There are 8 species of owls found in Illinois, with half being migratory and that we may only see in those periods. The year round owls of Illinois are great horned, eastern screech, barred, and barn owls. Migratory visitors include snowy, northern saw-whet, long-eared and short-eared owls.

Great horned owls are certainly the most common and are comfortable living closely to us, a frequent nocturnal backyard visitor. The smaller eastern screech owl can also be found in our neighborhoods, but keeps a low profile to avoid being noticed by the great horned owls (who will hunt them, and just about anything else). Barred owls don’t tolerate as much human activity, and prefer mature woodlands. Barn owls are much more of a grassland specialist, so we don’t see them often.

These owlets all came in orphaned and unable to return to their nests. Some, like the great horned, will be with us through the summer, where the smaller species mature more quickly. Their soft, fuzzy appearances don’t match their attitudes- even at their young ages, all these owls have happily exhibited wild owl behaviors like clacking and hissing. It will serve them well when they return to the wild.

***Patient of the Week***

Have you ever heard of a rat king? Maybe don’t look it up, the photos can be a bit disturbing. It’s when a group of rats get their tails intertwined together and become one large mass, unable to pull apart. Sometimes there is material that is making the entanglement worse like hair, garbage, or sticky residues. Now, how about a squirrel king?

I’m not sure what the rescuer of this ball of fur thought, but good for her for managing to contain this understandably agitated group of six juvenile eastern gray squirrels. Thankfully, all the squirrels were alive and in relatively good condition! They were quickly sedated for detangling and assessment. Watch the process in a video in the comments. While they may not look alive in the video and photos, all six are alive and well, just sedated for this delicate procedure.

While unbraiding their tails, some plastic and hay was discovered in the mix. We didn’t find any in this case, but squirrels can get sap on their fur that can contribute to this. Unfortunately, their tails were cold and swollen in spots, which will lead to partial amputations for these babies. But a better alternative than staying stuck together!

Two days after intake, the squirrels had surgery to remove the tips of their tails that were permanently damaged from the entanglement. They all lost about half of their tail, but it won’t prevent them from eventual release. There are many partial-tailed squirrels doing just fine in the wild (one is a regular visitor in our preserve)!

So far in life, these squirrels have had to do everything together. Den together. Eat together. Go to the hospital together. Even have surgery together! I’m sure as they get older, they will be happy to explore what the natural world has to offer and make their own way.

***Patient of the Week***

With over 900 patients currently in the hospital, we are in the peak of the season. About half of that number is made up of the usual suspects: orphaned waterfowl, squirrels, opossums, and cottontails. However, in the mix are a few random rodent babies that, while common enough species of wildlife, aren’t regulars in care. Due to their less accessible denning habits, these species aren’t often found by rescuers like our abundant species are.

Three very young eastern chipmunks were discovered during a driveway construction project. They were left out for mom to retrieve, but she probably was so stressed from all the disturbance that she didn’t return. Baby chipmunks should be in their underground nursery, so are not often encountered. Their eyes are just starting to open and they are doing well!

Some other underground-denning rodents have arrived in the last week- woodchuck babies! We have an older feisty female who is doing great, and a litter of younger groundhogs that were found in poor condition. We are hopeful they will pull through these first few rough days and begin to thrive.

And finally, two youngish southern flying squirrels were found in a home- one in the attic and the other in the basement. Definitely displaced, although if these nocturnal squirrels can find access, they often den in attics. Happily these two are older and won’t need intensive care, just some time before they can be released.

Among the faces of all the (hundreds) of regulars, it is fun to see something a little different. While there is an overlap in care, this is valuable experience so that we can be ready to help species whenever the next time is.

***Patient of the Week***

Our patients of the week highlight an all too common cause of presentation for rehabilitation – gunshots. This week we admitted an adult red-tailed hawk that was found bleeding and unable to fly for a few days. On exam, we noted that she suffered from an open humeral fracture and intake radiographs (X-rays) showed us the cause – multiple gunshot pellets. You could actually see the path of the pellets as she had wounds on both sides of her wing and into her chest where they lodged. Her bruising was also already starting to resolve so she was in fact shot multiple days prior to arrival.

She was anesthetized the next day for full radiographs and surgical assessment and despite the fracture being both open and older, the bone was still quite healthy, making her a good surgical candidate. While her prognosis is guarded, we have been happy with her healing so far! She joins four other birds in our ICU with surgical implants, all in various states of healing.

Unfortunately, she also joins nine other patients this year admitted directly for gunshot injuries (we say directly because there are quite a few more that we find pellets in incidentally), including two other raptors. One was another adult red-tailed hawk with metacarpal fractures that has since been released. The other is a Cooper’s hawk that has healed their ulna fracture but is still undergoing flight conditioning.

Our native raptors are federally protected birds and it is illegal to shoot them. Having a healthy raptor population provides so many ecosystem benefits, it is hard to understand why someone would do this. They naturally manage populations of rodents (reducing the need for harmful rodenticides), reduce the spread of diseases, maintain biodiversity, and serve as indicators of a healthy environment.

Next Saturday, May 16th from 9am -12pm, take some time to Paws and Play with us at the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center. There will be a variety of bird migration themed activities at this free, family program. No registration required, you can find more information here: https://www.dupageforest.org/things-to-do/calendar-of-events?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D197572212

***Patient of the Week***

What do these patients have in common? Yes, they are all birds, but they are all fledglings. The fledgling stage is a tough one for birds- it’s when they begin to gain some independence out of the nest. They are learning how to use their legs and wings, how and what to eat, and it’s also probably the itchiest time of their lives as they grow thousands of feathers all over their bodies.

Now we also need to talk about their differences- precocial vs altricial. Waterfowl, like goslings and ducklings, are precocial species meaning they become self-feeding and mobile much more quickly. Their hatchling and nestling phase lasts less than 48 hours, and then it’s time to move! Following parents around to protect them and show them the ropes, they are expected to keep up and eat their fill. However, this early boost is a trade off for how long they remain in their fledgling phase- about 2 months while they wait for their feathers to grow in!

Songbirds are altricial, meaning that they are helpless, unable to walk, hop, or even see for the first days of life. They spend their hatchling and nestling phases in a nest, relying on their parents to bring food and keep them warm. This usually lasts about 2 weeks before they enter the next phase of being a fledgling. Then it’s time to take the leap (or fall) out of the nest, learning to hop and fly from the ground up. Full feathering and flight abilities are typically accomplished in another 2 weeks.

One more thing these patients have in common is that they all needed help as they were found alone with no parents around. Fledglings are vulnerable and should still be under the watchful eye of mom and/or dad. That’s where we come in- observing a fledgling of any species to see if they are accompanied by an adult (at all times for waterfowl, and every so often for songbirds). We can help you assess whether one of these young birds needs to be rescued, or if we can leave them to their learning in the wild.

We can also be a friend to fledglings by scooting them out of an unsafe spot, like a road (it’s ok to briefly and carefully handle them if needed, but gloves are recommended). Cats shouldn’t be unsupervised or free-roaming outdoors. Avoid lawn chemicals and grow native gardens to keep their spaces and foods healthy. And remember- wild parents want their babies back! There is no better teacher for these young birds.

***Patient of the Week***

Just as we transferred a bald eagle patient back to Oaken Acres Wildlife Center for continued care, another one takes their place. We recently admitted an adult, suspect female (due to her enormous size) bald eagle with severe wing trauma. Because she was found on the ground near power lines, a collision may have caused the injury. She suffered such forceful trauma that she luxated (dislocated) her elbow. Wing luxations carry a poor to guarded prognosis, but if they are recent and we are able to manually reduce the bones back into alignment promptly, we have had birds recover from this challenging injury.

On admit, this bird was anesthetized to manually reposition the joint and bandage it in place. A couple of days later, she was anesthetized again to assess if surgical intervention was necessary, as we have found that the elbow doesn’t always stay in position without stabilizing with pins. Thankfully, the elbow was still in place and while there was significant soft tissue swelling and bruising, the joint palpated normal.

She will remain bandaged for about another week before we are able to assess if she has stabilized the joint appropriately, without developing too much fibrous tissue – it’s a tricky balance! After that, she will likely require significant physical therapy and flight reconditioning. On top of the trauma she suffered, she also had a relatively high blood lead level that required multiple chelation medications. While she isn’t lucky to have been injured, her lead level likely would have led to significant impairment if left untreated. So thankfully she gets a two for one deal!

Happy Friday update: in the last week, we’ve released 179 animals! We took advantage of the nice stretch of weather to return a lot of patients to the wild. Some of these were longer term cases, like the overwintering snakes and frog, and a whole lot are migratory birds that were only with us for a short stay. We were also able to clear out the first round of baby bunnies (soon to refill, of course). Here’s the list, in alphabetical order.

2 American robins, 6 brown creepers, 3 Canada geese, 1 chipping sparrow, 1 eastern towhee, 54 eastern cottontails, 1 fox sparrow, 1 fox squirrel, 2 garter snakes, 1 green tree frog, 11 hermit thrushes, 1 house finch, 2 mallards, 2 mourning doves, 1 Myrtle (yellow-rumped) warbler, 1 Nashville warbler, 2 northern waterthrushes, 1 opossum, 1 ovenbird, 5 pied-billed grebes, 3 ruby-crowned kinglets, 1 red-tailed hawk, 1 slate-colored junco, 5 swamp sparrows, 1 Tennessee warbler, 7 Virginia rails, 1 white-footed mouse, 40 white-throated sparrows, 17 yellow-bellied sapsuckers, and 4 yellow-shafted flickers.

Enjoy the weekend and a cottontail release video in the comments!