Northern Harrier Rescued With Broken Wing

THUNDER BAY — Jenn Salo says it's a rarity to receive a call about an injured northern harrier.

When her phone rang this past Tuesday, the authorized wildlife custodian at Thunderbird Raptor Rescue leapt into action.

“I got a call that this lady had found an injured hawk in her field when she went to go walk her dogs,” Salo said.

When the woman described the bird over the phone, Salo requested photos to make sure it was a northern harrier.

“This is only the second time in the last 10 years that I've had a harrier in to rescue,” Salo said.

When an injured bird comes into the rescue, it is a waiting game to see if they will recover, Salo said.

“Is it going to actually make it or not?”

Once the bird was in Salo’s care, it was sent for x-rays to see how extensive the wing injury was, she said.

“Usually things don't happen that fast, but they all just kind of happened to worked out,” she said.

“He’s okay.”

There are two bones in the bird's forearm, the radius and ulna, and the Northern Harrier happened to break its ulna.

“That's a good thing, because that means that stable bone will help stabilize the two broken bones,” she said.

“Right now, it's wrapped, we're hoping that it will heal naturally well enough for him to be releasable.”

So far, there is no prediction for how long the harrier will be in care, Salo said.

“You have to do the cleaning around it while it's in captivity, physio and then moving it to different pens,” Salo said. “There's a lot of different steps and processes that are involved in just the rehabilitation of one singular bird.”

The harrier has a chance because the woman who found him acted so quickly, Salo said.

“The chances of the injury getting worse are tenfold,” Salo said.

According to NatureCounts, a Birds Canada program, the northern harrier breeds in open landscapes across sub-Arctic Canada, and winters across the United States, Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.

Approximately 300,000 individuals are born in Canada, representing 37 per cent of the global population and a significant responsibility for Canada.

Another 40,000 that breed in Alaska migrate to or through Canada, boosting the proportion of the global total to 41 per cent. Data from the Breeding Bird Survey shows the population has seen a large decrease since 1970, and the national population is below the target for a healthy, stable species.

“They're usually one of the first arrivals in the springtime when people start seeing hawks,” Salo said.

Northern harriers have a round, owlish facial disk that helps direct sound to their ears and hear scurrying rodents; together with excellent vision, these traits make it a formidable predator, NatureCounts said.

“They're using their hearing like owls and not just sight alone, which is really, really cool for a daytime raptor,” Salo said.

“You get to see the male harriers gliding over the fields. They mostly haunt marshes, fields, and low-lying areas because they're hunting for rodents and small birds,” Salo said.

After securing the bird, she said, people should keep it in a quiet, dark place and wait for an authorized wildlife rescuer to arrive.

“If at all possible, please contain the bird,” Salo said.

Once the bird's species is identified, a towel, blanket, or sheet should be placed over the bird to minimize the risk of self-harm, Salo said.

“You throw it over the bird, you gently gather the bird and put him in either a box or plastic crate,” Salo said.

Injured birds should not be captured with a net or placed in a wire crate, Salo said.

“Please do not put an injured bird into wire crates, because an injured and panicked bird has the potential to get not only its feathers stuck in the bars, but its broken wing or leg,” Salo said.

“They're really not a good thing when we're trying to help injured animals.”

Individuals should then wait until Salo arrives to rescue the bird, she said.

Read the original article here: https://www.tbnewswatch.com/pets-animals/northern-harrier-rescued-with-broken-wing-12224088