Wild Wings

Jan. 17, 2007

“Sky,” an immature bald eagle, was first spotted lying dazed and dying on a rock in the middle of a river near Pellston last August 17 by a sharp-eyed DNR officer.
The young female was apparently suffering from the effects of West Nile Virus, a neurological disease spread by mosquitoes which kills most birds.
But this was Sky’s lucky day, because after the officer placed a call to a biologist to report the incident, he found that the eagle had roused itself enough to perch on the roof of his pickup truck. From there, it was a gentle nudge into captivity and off to the bird hospital -- better known as the Wings of Wonder raptor rehabilitation center, a few miles east of the Village of Empire.
“We’ve rehabilitated eight eagles over the past year -- the most we’ve ever had,” says Rebecca Lessard, founder and director of Wings of Wonder.
She notes that in Sky’s case, the bird was set to be released to the wild on Sunday, Jan. 14 in a public ceremony conducted with her husband, Don. The wildlife releases offer a good way to inform the public about the non-profit organization, not to mention seeing a majestic eagle up close.

EAGLE TURF
“January is a good time to release immature eagles because the adults are not yet in their nesting areas, where they can have a territorial, defensive state of mind,” Lessard said.
“At this time of year, eagles tend to be gregarious and hang together,” she adds. “This immature eagle can role-model off adults because they’re very accepting in January.”
The problem for Sky will be finding other adult eagles to serve as role models. Usually, most lakes and waterways are frozen over in winter, and eagles tend to congregate around the few remaining open-water areas to fish. This winter, however, it may be much harder for Sky to find those eagle hang-outs because there’s so much open water out there.
Sky got her name from the Retired General Motors Employees of Northern Michigan who made a sizable contribution to Wings of Wonder and were rewarded with the chance to name her.
Her rehabilitation took place in an idyllic setting: The Lessards own 40 wooded acres, at the heart of which is a seven-acre lake. The Wings of Wonder bird hospital and its sprawling aviary building occupies about two acres of their property.

BEAK & TALON
Lessard specializes in raptors, which include eagles, hawks, owls and falcons.
“I have a degree in biology and always worked with mammals until I had a chance to work with a vet on an injured red tail hawk 18 years ago,” she recalls. “That changed my life -- it was so rewarding. Raptors are beautiful birds and I wanted to learn more about them.”
She was trained in raptor rehabilitation at the Kalamazoo Nature Center and then at the Minnesota Raptor Center. Ultimately, she received her federal raptor possession and education permits and set up shop. Today, that educational process includes giving 100 presentations per year to an estimated 8,000 people.
“This started out as a small backyard operation,” she says. “I had two enclosures and thought that I’d rehab maybe four birds a year. But it never worked that way because we were inundated from the beginning. Today, we rehab 60-75 birds a year and we’re a small operation.”
Where do the birds come from?
“Most of our patients come here as the result of collision injuries from being hit by cars,” Lessard says. “We get referrals from DNR officers, local vets, animal control officers, the former Clinch Park Zoo, and 911 calls.”
She adds that West Nile Virus is another concern, with 2002 being an especially
bad year.
“It’s always iffy if a bird can survive West Nile and it can have permanent side effects,” she says. Those can include scarring on the brain, blindness, seizures, and a tendency to pinch off feathers.
So count Sky as a lucky bird. Born in 2006 and weighing 12-13 pounds, the eagle still has the mottled brown-and-gold coat of a young bird. Eventually, she will develop the distinctive white head and tail of America’s symbol of freedom.
Lessard says she was getting “feisty” in captivity. It was time for her to go. So if you see a big, beautiful eagle draped in ruddy brown plumage and wheeling through the sky this week, take a closer look -- that could be Sky.

Wings of Wonder had plans to release Sky back to the wild on Sunday, Jan. 14 at
2 p.m. from Traverse Bay Community School on Supply Road, southeast of Traverse City. For more on the organization, see
www.wingsofwonder.org.