Recently, two groups of employees stepped in to rescue wild birds in separate instances around the Powell River area.
Both birds, a bald eagle found in Stillwater and a two-week-old great blue heron at Powell River Recreation Complex, were taken to Merrilee Prior, a local bird rescue specialist in Townsite.
The injured eagle was found in a roadside ditch by two Olympic Log Sort Ltd. employees on the morning of May 28.
“She was in rough shape,” said Prior, of her initial assessment of the listless, barely moving adult eagle. “I thought that she might have lead poisoning.”
Flown out by Pacific Coastal Airlines for free, the eagle is now in the care of the Orphaned Wildlife Sanctuary (O.W.L.) in Delta.
Grateful to Prior for her swift action, Martina Versteeg, a member of bird care staff at O.W.L., said the eagle tested negative for lead poisoning, but bruising on the bird’s breastbone leads her and her colleagues to suspect it could have been struck by a vehicle.
However, the eagle is on the mend and if all goes well, said Versteeg, she will be returned and released in Powell River in a few months.
Meanwhile on May 31, an injured two-week-old heron was found wobbling around the recreation complex parking lot with broken pin feathers and an open wound after falling from its nest. “It definitely wanted its mother,” said Prior of the loudly protesting nestling, brought to her by rescuers Glenn McQuarrie and Mike Martineau, maintenance staff at the complex.
Now stitched up and recovering, the nestling is doing well in Metchosin on Vancouver Island at BC SPCA Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre (Wild ARC).
Keri Marks, manager of Wild ARC, said although the heron is still on antibiotics and in some pain, the bird will hopefully be eating on its own in about a week. Although she cannot say for certain, Marks estimates the bird will likely be ready for release in about a month.
Prior, who typically only has space to care for injured songbirds in her Townsite home, said anyone who has found an injured bird should keep it warm and quiet in a covered box and call her at 604.483.9787.
“If you can walk over and touch the bird, it needs help,” said Prior.
