We rescued an immature female oriole during a snowstorm in mid-January. The dog found her on the ground and was picking her up in her mouth when I happened to look out the window. The bird allowed me to take her into my cupped hands after Goldy spit her out. In the house, I held the chartreuse-tinted bird near the wood stove until we rigged up a plate with a towel for bedding and a cover using the inside section of a salad spinner, the piece full of holes.
This cold little bird, her legs frosted with snow, sat by the fire while we consulted with the York Center for Wildlife. They wanted to see the bird that day to make sure she could be treated for whatever injury sent her to the ground.
This wonderful organization takes in birds and critters that have been injured and nurses them with the goal of returning them to the wild. The unfortunate birds who cannot return to the wild, many of them birds of prey, find a permanent home in the unique buildings constructed to house owls and falcons. Owls are most commonly injured by cars, a sad commentary about modern life. They go to the streets for road kill or are hit as they swoop for prey.
It’s worth a trip to the Center to meet Freya, the peregrine falcon who is now the office mascot. She perches atop a swivel chair in the entry room that serves as an intake and reception center. Freya was so young when she was brought to the Center that she imprinted with the people and now cannot return to the wild. It’s an indescribable thrill to be within 4 feet of a magnificent creature like her.
The injured female oriole, B-14-12 (B for “bird”, 14 because she was the 14th rescue bird and 12 for the year of her rescue, 2012), has been convalescing at the CFW for about a month now. She spends 24 hours a day in the outdoor aviary where she is able to perch and is relearning how to fly. The CFW staff will let us collect her for release in our yard when the rest of the orioles start coming through again on their spring migration north.
This immature female was one of 3 immature or juvenile orioles who visited our suet bag this winter, one female and two male. They didn’t have the sense to leave Maine last fall. Probably they were lulled into staying by the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snow cover. CFW says many songbirds failed to migrate this year and were caught unawares as the inevitable cold and snow settled in. My neighbor thinks these birds should be tested for mercury poisoning as their failure to migrate south indicates that they are brain-damaged.
One of the 2 males continues to visit our suet bag daily. Every morning I watch for him. Is it too much to hope that he might eventually be reunited with his once weaker but perhaps now stronger companion? Let us hope that the older, more experienced orioles will figure a way to force these two reckless juveniles north to breed and nest and then south again next fall.
TO BE CONTINUED…..
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