Rising from the Ashes

In the midst of Saturday night's Sugar Grove plane crash that regretfully claimed the lives of two Florida men, stood the remnants of a large hawk. Phoenix, as she is now known, is believed to be a female Red-tailed Hawk that miraculously survived the fireball which engulfed her while she was sleeping in a tree near the crash site.

Burned beyond positive species identification, Phoenix was recovered by Kane County Animal Control and was promptly transferred to Flint Creek Wildlife for emergency care. Since that time four nights ago, she has been receiving around-the-clock care for her injuries.


She has demonstrated an inspiring spirit and resilience. Although her recovery time will be long, Phoenix stands a good chance of making a full recovery and being released back to the wild to soar once again.

Please keep her in your thoughts and visit our website at http://www.flintcreekwildlife.org/ if you are able to contribute to help offset the costs of her care.

Our sincerest appreciation to Kane County Animal Control and the sheriff's deputy who first spotted Phoenix standing in the snow near the plane wreckage.

Dawn

Ferruginous Hawk Recovered from Plow of Freight Train

The cover of today's Chicago Sun-Times featured a story on a Ferruginous Hawk that Flint Creek Wildlife recovered from the plow of a Canadian Pacific freight train in August. Journey, as the hawk is now known, demonstrated amazing will to live through the 1,000+ mile journey as it was wedged in a contorted position throughout his ordeal.

Thanks to the workers at the Canadian Pacific for noticing the bird's tail hanging down from the front of the train as it arrived at the Franklin Park rail yard long after dark. After realizing that the bird was still alive, the workers located Flint Creek Wildlife and called us after 11:00 pm. We arrived at the rail yard just after midnight and extricated the bird from the train's plow.

Thanks to Mitch Dudek, Tom Cruze and the Chicago Sun-Times staff for their amazing coverage of this brave bird!

Dawn Keller

Horned Grebe, Cold Waters

This Horned Grebe, a small migratory water bird, hit a window in our great city and descended to the walkway below. Like Loons, Grebes are meant for diving not for walking on or taking off from dry land. Grounded, he sat waiting for help. A passerby picked him up and phoned our Northerly Island bird hospital.

We treated the Grebe for minor head trauma and returned him back to water once he recovered. Unaffected by the cold waters of Lake Michigan, he flapped happily. We imagine that he was on his way from his summer home in northwestern Canada headed towards his winter home in the southeastern United States.

Thank you, Bob Vogelzang, for taking photos of this release and for giving us permission to use them on our blog!

The Beauty of Silent Flight

She flew silently into the night without much deliberation. She landed in a nearby tree and disappeared. We hoped that she would reveal her location by a soft trill or whinney, two Eastern Screech Owl vocalizations, but we heard nothing except the rustle of leaves.

Dog Attacked Mallard Survives

Today we released a young Mallard Duck that had been attacked by a dog a few weeks prior and brought to Flint Creek Wildlife by Arlington Heights Animal Control. Upon admission, the duck had puncture wounds on her neck and chest.

She relished the moment by bathing happily.

Another American Bittern Successfully Rehabilitated

Today we released an American Bittern to continue its migration southward. This was the first of five American Bitterns admitted to Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation thus far during fall migration. He suffered from a fracture to the left radius (bone in the wing). The wing healed and he was ready to continue his journey.

American Bitterns, an endangered species in Illinois, spend their summers in much of Canada and the northern United States. Their wintering grounds include the southern reaches of the United States and Central America. According to Cornell Department of Ornithology, they generally migrate alone or in pairs.

American Bitterns have a reputation for being very secretive. They stand among reeds and blades of tall grass and hold their heads up with their bills pointed skyward camouflaging themselves as grass. In this position, they can be very difficult to see. You can see this nicely illustrated in one of the photos we took of the subject American Bittern following his release.


Anyway, I digress....

So this American Bittern flew to the nearby reeds and tall grass and camouflaged himself. He hung out for awhile and then continued his migration. One more injured bird that gets another chance. We wish him a long and safe life.

In case you're interested, while we've released three of the American Bitterns arriving this fall, it looks like the other two will miss migration. Once healed, our options will be to overwinter them or to ship them south to their wintering territory. One of these birds suffered from a fractured femur (leg bone) while the second has a fractured wrist (wing bone).

Love of a Lifetime

As I loosened my grip, he turned a looked at me, wings outspread. I wished him good luck.

He turned away and flew towards some nearby houses, landing in a dense grouping of trees. He disappeared from sight.

From the south she came flying towards the tree. She landed inside the dense foliage also disappearing from sight. She soon emerged and flew to the top of a nearby telephone pole.

He followed, briefly alighting on a vent pipe and then following her to the telephone pole. There they stood side by side.

She left the telephone pole, kee-eee-aaring, a joyous call beckoning him to follow. They had been reunited.

He had left her three months earlier after having been shot and almost dying from blood loss. His will to live was undeniable. Now through his will they have been given another chance.

"All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child." Marie Curie

Red-tailed Hawk Release

Below are photos from the first of two Red-tailed Hawks that we released today. This Red-tailed Hawk was brought to Flint Creek Wildlife's Barrington location by Palatine Animal Control. It was found down in a suburban yard.

Based on eye color and small size, we believe that this Red-tailed Hawk is a male - approximately 5 years old. Upon admission, he was in moderately low condition with a wing injury.
He came from a rather crowded area and, although we might have preferred another location, he needed to go home where he'd been surviving all these years. His release was uneventful as he flew strongly to a nearby tree and proceeded to survey the area.

Good luck, be strong and good hunting!

Great Horned Owl Release

Several months after we rescued a large, female Great Horned Owl with a broken wing from a horse pasture, we returned her home - her wing now healed. Instead of flying off to the nearby trees, she headed across the open space towards the resident's house. I feared for a moment that I was about to treat her for head trauma, but at the last minute she ascended to land on their roof. I am confident that this tough and aggressive owl will thrive now that we've given her a second chance.

Mice beware!

Northern Saw-whet Owl Release

I am overjoyed that we were able to return three Northern Saw-whet Owls back to the wild. All three originally became injured by colliding with windows. Two have been in our care since spring migration while the third became injured just a couple of weeks ago during fall migration.

Northern Saw-whet Owls weigh half as much as Illinois' smallest year-round resident owl, the Eastern Screech Owl. Like all birds of prey, males are smaller than females. For a Northern Saw-whet, that might mean 70 grams for a male and 100 grams for a female - less than 1/4 of a pound.

Northern Saw-whets passing through Chicago probably summer in Wisconsin or Canada and spend winters as far north as southern Illinois to as far south as the southern United States. One of our volunteers informed me that a Northern Saw-whet has been known to winter at Morton Arboretum and has been sighted in the same tree winter after winter. Flint Creek Wildlife has never admitted a Northern Saw-whet except during migration.

Check out the photo gallery on our website for additional release photos.

Safe travels.