Rescued Great Blue Heron Chicks
Great Blue Herons raise their young in the top of large trees, usually in groups of 50+ nests called a rookery. A rookery containing approximately 100 nests (as surveyed by the MN DNR) was destroyed by the violent storms in the Metro area this weekend. The heron chicks shown above will be cared for by our Avian Nursery staff, and will hopefully be fledged and ready for release in a few weeks. Younger heron chicks will be with us longer.
As rescuers locate orphaned and injured birds, they bring them to WRC for medical care. We’ve admitted nearly a dozen herons today, not to mention lots of orphaned songbirds.
The herons were rescued by TRAINED people–please stay away from this area as human traffic will cause more harm than good. The DNR and park officials are coordinating all wildlife rescue.
The birds have been admitted with a wide range of injuries: broken wings, broken legs and various other stress-related issues.
We’re very fortunate to have a med staff of five (includes two DVMs and three CVTs) as well as several vet interns and vet tech externs. In fact, one of our vets, Leslie, has gone through emergency preparedness training and is on a committee of Twin City area professionals trained specifically for this type of situation. We’re thankful to the DNR, USFWS and the park staff for so quickly organizing everything and transporting the birds to our Center (we can’t pick up injured wildlife).
We’ll keep you posted on how the herons are doing, but please keep in mind that there were lots of other animals affected by the storms all throughout the Twin Cities.
If you’re interested in helping us in what is developing as a very busy season, we need your help in our Avian Nursery. The commitment is seasonal – only through mid-September. You can read more about it here and even apply online.
If you’d like to help support the care of all these animals, you can sponsor an adult bird or an Avian Nursery patient on our secure donation page.
May 24th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Can I volunteer with the Heron’s. I’ve been visting the rookery for 5 years and have been over today and last night to see if I can help. Morning their loss also. 6127891756
May 24th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
Anita, we’d love to have you join us as a volunteer, but you’d be committing to a full volunteer position with us, and not working with the herons. We have a very thorough training period that all of our volunteers go through before they start working with species that could pose a risk (whether it be rabies vector species or birds like pelicans, swans and herons).
We do, however, need lots of help in our Avian Nursery where we have literally hundreds of songbirds who have been recently orphaned. That commitment is seasonal, so you’d only be with us once a week until mid-September (not nearly as long as the 9-month commitment to Animal Care Crew).
There’s information on our nurseries and our Animal Care Crew positions in the Get Involved section of our Web site. If, after reading through the descriptions, you’re interested in joining us, you can complete an online application right there.
Thanks so much for caring about our local wildlife!
– Tami
May 24th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
[...] WRC coverage of the heron rookery [...]