Percy the Pelican

Percy was found on New Years eve. My runner phoned and told me that she had a pellican. I told her she was mistaken, Pellicans were not here this time of year. She said it was too big to fit in the box, and she couldn't drive it to me without help. The next thing I know, Atlantic City police department drives the bird and my runner to my house. My runner brought it inside, and I was shocked it was a pellican.

Percy was a young bird which contracted frost bite, and was effected by the cold weather. We concluded that either someone brought percy up from Florida and set it loose, or the bird being young did not migrate when it should had and got stuck here when the cold hit. That year it had been aproximately 70 degrees until New Years Eve. When the cold set in, the bird could go no where.

We fed percy, and treated the frost bite. I was in touch with a facility in Florida which I had visited a few months before for extra training. One of the birds was pellicans. How ironic. Percy was on channel 40 news, channel 3, 6, and 10. AM 1500 talked about Percy. We needed to raise $170.00 to fly Percy to Florida. Percy was to be flown in a pressurized, temperature controlled cabin. After about a week on the television and radio, only one person donated the complete amount to send Percy home.

Percy was met by a rehabilitator at the airport. I have found that a few months later Percy was in perfect condition, and let back into the wild. I am so grateful to the center down south, and to the person who donated to send him home. It is so expensive caring for the birds, and time consuming. There are no extra funds to do these types of things needed for the animals. I am shocked that after all of that publicity the rest of the world didn't care enough to send Percy home. Thank God for that one special person, and what a difference they made in my life and Percy's life.

Baby Great Horned Owl

The baby Great Horned owl was found in Mayslanding, NJ. It had been abandoned on the side of the road. The bird was in perfect condition. I had gone back to the spot to see if I could find this owls siblings as they usually are not only children. I had no luck.

The owl was cared for until it could be transfered to Raptor Trust in Middleton NJ. There they had a surrogate mother which could care for the bird. I found out later that the bird did well, and was released. If one bird is saved and has one brood of young, then we have made a difference.

---

Red Tail Hawk

She had been found on the side of the road hit by a car with a severe head trauma. She laid down most of the time due to her injury. She was treated for the head trauma with steroids, her eye was treated with antibiotic drops and a steroid drop (it healed beautifully). It took approximately 3 months before the bird could stand up and perch. I had started out initally hand feeding it until it could eat the cut up meat by itself. Eventually after a few months she could tear her food herself. She still had a problem with her head tilting to the side and sometimes turning upside down. Her equilibrium was off. It took another 3 months before she was steady, and didn't turn her head anymore. She became very strong in her flying and was released to the world again. This bird would have been a bird that local facilities would have euthanized because it took a lot of time and care to bring her back.

---

Belted Kingfisher

This bird was hit by a car. It is not a happy story. The bird had some head trauma, and did not respond to the medication given to it. It did pass on within a couple of days. It was a beautiful bird! But, sometimes the injury is beyond what we can do. It was a blessing that it died peacefully. But, if there's hope you have to try and hope for the best.