This has been a long time coming. Thank you Facebook and Instagram followers and
website subscribers for following us!! We are sooooo grateful for
being able to share our love of raptors with you and are inspired and
motivated to do even more.
Sooooo . . . . what’s been happening? Well, we will take a look at our
rescue and rehab cases followed by the year in education programs
with our raptor ambassadors.
RESCUE & REHAB
Hawks, owls, falcons, eagles . . . . from baby Great Horned owls, Eastern Screech owl and Barred owl, juvenile and adult Red-tailed hawks, Broad-winged hawk, Great Horned owls, and 2 Bald Eagles, we had a very busy year. Some cases were heartbreaking and some totally heartwarming. Most were released either back to their homes in the wild or to a safer place so they could thrive. Some of our most recent patients were 2 Bald Eagles and a Merlin falcon.
The first Bald Eagle was struck by a vehicle going 59 miles per hour. The eagle was pursuing a dead squirrel on the road which was straddled by the driver. The driver never saw the eagle coming, and it was struck suffering a fractured wing. She also had a chest wound. The eagle had surgery on the wing and chest wound right away. The surgical procedure was perfect. However, the eagle declined afterwards and passed away. Necropsy showed a ruptured gallbladder secondary to the vehicle hit. She was a breeding female with the nest nearby.
The second Bald Eagle is a 4-1/2-year-old eagle who doesn’t have the full white head and tail nor the completely yellow beak or soft yellow eyes. Next year, this eagle will have those at 5 years old. The eagle presented with abnormal colored mutes (feces, urine, and urates). We were concerned that the eagle had ingested some rodenticide (rat poison) or foul meat of some sort. This eagle recovered nicely and was released! WIFR did a story on his release, check it out here https://www.wifr.com/2024/12/03/bald-eagle-found-poplar-grove-airport-released-after-medical-treatment/
The most recent admission (just a few days ago) is a Merlin falcon, a tiny falcon just a little bigger than the American Kestrel and only weighs about 6-1/2 oz. This little falcon should not be here as he should have migrated south already. He hit a window and fractured his radius bone in his wing. It should heal nicely. We will overwinter him because of the time of the year and hopefully release him in the spring.
A FEW FUN FACTS ABOUT BALD EAGLES
Did you know Bald Eagles have over 7,000 feathers?
Bald Eagle feathers weigh about twice as much as the eagle’s skeleton due to hollow bones!
Their eyesight is 8x stronger than ours!
Their grip strength is a crushing 400 psi!
Bald Eagles mate for life (which is the case with most raptors)!
Bald Eagles can live up to 30 years old in the wild!
EDUCATION
Special thanks to ALL who hired us to do presentations with our “live” raptor ambassadors! We went to schools, scout events, nursing homes/assisted living facilities, birthday parties, outdoor festivals and fairs, and a cemetery in Chicago, totaling about 150 programs this year!
TWO NEW RAPTOR AMBASSADORS!!
Owliver is a male Great Horned owl. He fell out of the nest from 60 feet up and suffered a broken wing and head trauma. He had a successful surgery on the wing but never recovered to the point of normal flight. He has a head tilt from the head trauma but acts just like a Great Horned owl should.
Glynis is a female American Kestrel and is named after the woman who rescued her. Glynis, with her sibling, somehow got trapped in a glass enclosure. Her sibling got out, but Glynis panicked and kept striking the glass to get out injuring her spine and head. At first, she could not even stand up. With homeopathic remedies, medications, supplements, physical therapy, etc., she can do all things American Kestrels can do except fully think like one probably due to the head trauma. This is why she is not releasable.
Look for these 2 birds at our programs in 2025.
SPECIAL THANKS
We are sooooo grateful to our team: Todd for rescues/rehab, helping to build things, assisting in programs, and donating fish; Cathy and Gary for assisting in programs, building travel boxes, generous donations throughout the year, and helping to build Osprey nesting platforms and American Kestrel boxes; Mary for assisting in programs; and Miranda for assisting in programs and cleaning; Jim Hess for his artistry in taxidermy; Robert for fish donations; IDNR for donations of Asian carp. We could not do this without all of their help.
Thank you to Margaret for all the work put into our website!! Check out our brand new website at northernillinoisraptor.org So exciting!!
We would also like to thank Dr. Holm and her staff at Auburn Animal Clinic in Rockford!! They treated a ton of our feathered friends throughout the year.
We are so blessed.
And of course we want to thank you for your kindness and support!! It means the world to us, telling us you love what we are doing to help raptors in our communities and help with a better understanding of why we need raptors in the environment! Anywhere from 60-75% of raptors don’t even make it their first year of life! With your donations, we can rescue, rehab, and release more of these magnificent creatures. Please donate any amount to help us have the funds for patients the rest of this year and into 2025. We do not get funds from state or federal governments. All funds for rescue and rehab are from donations.
Here are some options for donations:
PayPal Giving Fund: https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1542473
OR
Send a check or money order to:
NIRRE Attention: Rescue and rehab funds 6320 Poplar Street Loves Park, IL 61111
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
We’re looking for passionate, dedicated, dependable volunteers. We need help with rescues, maintaining cages (mews), carrier and rugs, assisting with our education programs, social media, helping with fundraising, and the Osprey nesting platform project and American Kestrel project. INTERESTED?
Send an e-mail to raptorlady@comcast.net Subject line: Volunteering
You can also fill out the form on our website at northernillinoisraptor.org
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