During the fall and winter season at Wild ARC, we are used to admitting wildlife patients that sustain injuries by hitting windows and motor vehicles. As birds migrate for the winter and as daylight hours change and reduce, birds and raptors are more prone to being injured by the causes above.
Recently, we had two uncommon species admitted into care! A Virginia Rail was brought in after it was suspected that it was hit by a car, and a Sora came in after it had hit someone’s window. Both of these patients are migratory shorebirds who predominately use fresh wetlands and coastline saltmarshes, so it is very unusual to have these birds in care at Wild ARC.
The Virginia Rail had suffered central nervous system damage and had issues standing on its own. Both patients were not eating much as a result of the head trauma they had sadly suffered. Once assessed by our rehabilitation team, it was clear both patients would need to be left alone in a quiet, dark, comfortable place to rest and stabilize until they were ready to receive further treatment.
Medications and fluids were administered, and specialized diets were provided to encourage eating more and gaining weight. Over the next few days each patient’s appetite and strength improved. These species of birds are extremely high stress and their success rate in care is very low. Our staff were careful to work quickly to make sure these patients had minimal handling and stress. After a couple of weeks in care, the Sora and Virginia Rail were both flying very well and were both successfully released.
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