We lost Phoenix

[auld argonian]

Just an interesting story from the Wildlife Rehab people that I sometimes work with.

http://birdfreak.com/phoenix-the-red...m-plane-crash/

This poor guy got caught in the fireball of a small plane crash and survived at least for a while. Dawn Keller is an incredibly dedicated rehabilitator so the eventual loss of Phoenix must have been tough even for her. A remarkable story of survival that, sadly, had an unhappy ending.

Just thought that a few of you would find it of interest.

Best

AA

[Lachlan09]

Sorry, I can't get you tube on this PC - it's blocked by a company filter.

What/who is Phoenix ?

When I read the title, I thought it was the loss of the Cardinals NFL franchise.

[auld argonian]

"On January 23rd, 2010 a small plane crashed in Sugar Grove, Illinois killing two Florida men. The explosion from the crash torched a tree where a raptor was roosting for the night. Unbelievably, the bird was alive and taken to Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation where her outlook is positive for a full recovery.

The raptor was so badly burned that a positive identification wasn’t originally clear. They now believe the bird to be a female Red-tailed Hawk and have named her “Phoenix”. Nearly all the bird’s outer feathers including her tail were burned. Her talons and outer eyelid were also burned so much so that she couldn’t see when she first arrived at Flint Creek."

Basically, this poor bird got caught in a considerable fireball when the plane crashed and the EMT's who showed up found her and turned her over to Flint Creek. We've had some unbelievable cases in the past, one of the most incredible was a red tail that was hit by a train and was carried along on the train's cowcatcher for who knows how long until they realized it and got it to the bird center. That one pulled through but can't be released back into the wild and is now an education bird going to schools and nature centers. One of the other education birds is a Turkey Vulture; that's my buddy...and it's remarkable how little a bird that big actually weighs and you don't realize it until you have him on your hand.

Anyway, the poor bird that was burned finally had to be euthanized as infections had set in even though Dawn Keller seems to have had most of the burn injuries under control.

Just mentioned it because I know that we have a large percentage of the forum membership that is "outdoors-sy" and thought that they might find the survival story interesting...even though it didn't have a story-book ending.

Best

AA