Yankee Ridge Educational Event

Before school let out for the summer, two of our resident raptors visited the students at Yankee Ridge Elementary school. Nokomis and Odin visited an art class so the students could practice drawing live subjects. It was a really interesting opportunity for both the birds and the artists!

You can read more about the event here. (Scroll down... the story is toward the bottom of the page.)




The raptors will be at the Springer Cultural Center for the Champaign Park District Summer Day Camp on June 19th and at the Rantoul Public Library at 1pm on June 27th. Stop by and say "hello!"

Clinic Update

Summer is always a busy time in the WMC, and right now there are a few interesting cases in the clinic.

First, there is a Great Blue Heron with a left wing injury.



We also have a very vocal juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.


This turtle needed to have a feeding tube placed to make sure he gets enough nutrients.


As always, there are a lot of juvenile animals in the ward over the summer. Thus far there have been 12 fawns! This one is recovering in an incubator after being hit by a car.

Current Orphans

Over the summer, the clinic gets in a lot of juvenile animals. Some of them are injured, some are just too young to fend for themselves and their parents have been injured, some are being removed from dangerous situations (like after being dug up from their nest by a dog or cat) and some of them are healthy orphans who would probably do best if left alone. Our recommendations are to call us only when:
1) you know the parents are dead (evidence of a dead adult nearby)
2) the animal is obviously injured, weak, thin, very cold or sick
3) the animal is covered with flies or insects , or
4) the animal is in unavoidable, unnatural danger.

Cygnet (Juvenile Swan)

Cygnet with his surrogate "mom"

Juvenile American Kestral

Two of our volunteers feeding fawns

Fawns

Summer!

Summer has begun at the wildlife clinic. All of the students have finished finals, and most of the volunteers have left to begin their summer adventures. During break, the clinic is kept running by the two managers, two interns and a couple of super devoted volunteers. There are quite a few cases in the ward right now, including a couple of mallard ducks, a juvenile swan, some squirrels. rabbits and a great horned owl. A garter snake just presented after being closed in a door and is currently down getting radiographs. With fewer volunteers and the continual influx of cases, summer is always exciting in the WMC!

Juvenile Swan

Mallard

Examining the Garter Snake

Garter Snake Radiograph

The arrow points to the spinal fracture. (Click on the picture to enlarge.)