It's gonna be a good year!



I work in a veterinary hospital and we do some wildlife work on the side. We
might be a bit superstitious but we predict what type of year it will be by
whether or not the first bird that is brought in lives or dies. We've struck
out the last three years with hopeless cases that ended in either death or
euthanasia. In 2007, the first bird through the door was a Hutton's Vireo
(first one we've hospitalized) that had smacked a window. It had some pretty
severe neurological problems and I expected it to die. Nevertheless, we
administered some medications and kept it overnight.



This morning when I arrived, I heard some skritching on the side of the box
and discovered that the bird was rarin' to go! We released it; it flew to
the nearby Scotch broom patch and proceeded to chew us out. Obviously, it
hadn't appreciated the treatment or accommodations.



Now, if we could only have this kind of success every year!



Dave Parent, Freeland, Whidbey Island