Three in a row

This appears to be a plain jane sort of photo but there is a story behind each bird. The one on the top came from Kathy, a rehabber in Lander. A Swainson's hawk, the bird was found unable to fly and in horrible feather condition. The one in the middle also came from another rehabber, Janet in Riverton. This bird, also a Swainson's hawk, was found barely able to stand and had neurological problems besides missing a whole bunch of wing and almost all tail feathers. The bottom one is a Rough-legged hawk that came in here last year with a badly fractured wing. Dr. Blessing repaired it but the prognosis was very poor. Usually birds spend about four weeks in a small cage then are put into larger quarters so they can begin to exercise. The pin is taken out at six weeks and then they go into a flight barn.

This young lady was in a small cage for 12 weeks and then went into one of the new mews, 8'x20'. She absolutely amazed me when she was up on the tall wall perch in just a couple days. She went into this large 32'x48' flight barn a couple weeks ago and has never looked back. She is now flying from one end to the other and up to the high wall perches. As this species won't be back in WY until this coming November, she'll stay here gaining flight hours until the others arrive for the winter. Then she will be released to join the migration back to the Arctic Circle in the Spring. If she was released now she would automatically head north but get there about the time the others are thinking of coming here. At that point she wouldn't be strong enough to make the return flight and would probably die in Northern Canada.

The wild birds constantly amaze me in their ability to overcome such great odds. Makes a person think about the trials and tribulations in their lives and to not give up, no matter what.