Plastic Bottle Safety Rings and Sticky Wasp traps: Avoidable Hazards
Young Rock Dove (pigeon) 20-328 was brought to the Pendleton Center with a wing injury. What we found was unbelievable. The young bird had somehow gotten tangled in a plastic safety ring as a nestling. Perhaps the parents used the ring as nest material. The bird literally grew around the ring. A small strip of plastic was visible threw the bird’s feathers. We cut the strip and pulled out a safety ring from a plastic bottle. As the bird grew, the ring severed both the sternum and left humerus. This would never have happened if the ring had been properly disposed of.
Adult American Robin 20-335 was found stuck to a wasp trap. The finder was able to free the robin from the sticky trap, but several wing feathers were pulled out and the remaining primaries were so damaged by the glue they will need to be molted and replaced with new feathers. I’m not sure if that process will take weeks or months. Another bird was also stuck to the wasp trap, but it had already died. Make sure you follow directions carefully when using any type of trap so as not to trap non target species.
Fledgling Bald Eagle 20-322
We received a call from OSP one evening regarding a “golden eagle” wandering the streets of Pilot Rock. The eagle turned out to be a fledgling Bald Eagle. We had received a call earlier in the day regarding a young Bald Eagle near Indian Lake. We suspect the calls were about the same eagle. The only sign of trauma revealed during a physical exam was a small amount of blood in his mouth. Initially the eagle had little interest in flying, but after two weeks in the large flight pen he is ready to go back with his family. Unfortunately we have been unable to locate an eagle family near Indian Lake. There is a potential foster family on Katherine Creek near Union, OR. In the mean time, the eagle is making good progress… and keeping clean!
