Maine Wildlife Rehabilitation

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Maine Wildlife Rehabilitation

A center that supports Maine wildlife populations, research, education, and environmental stewardship to ensure long-term sustainability for the future.

08/27/2026

Our smaller bird patients face a wide variety of human related threats, with some of the most common causes of injury being window collisions and cat attacks. Mourning dove 26–342 unfortunately experienced both of these things, first colliding with a window and then while stunned and unable to fly being significantly injured by a cat.

The dove had many lacerations, including one involving the left eyelid margin, which can be a challenging injury to fix as it is vital to restore perfect realignment of the eyelid margins to prevent long-term corneal irritation and damage. In a bird this small, this involves very careful and precise surgical work to restore the eyelid edges to normal alignment, but we were able to do this successfully and the dove is now recovering well. We hope that this bird will not have a repeat of either injury after release!

08/24/2026

It's migration season for birds! Currently, many different species of birds are migrating through Maine further south to their wintering areas. Some of these birds have spent the summer here and some are coming from breeding areas further north and passing through on their way back south. Some species travel as far as South America, while others winter in the southern US or Central America. During migration, birds can encounter many hazards and are particularly vulnerable due to the massive effort that such migrations entail.

Ovenbird 26-301 was one such bird, admitted to us after being caught by a cat, but also having very likely struck a window just before that. The bird had significant head trauma and minor ocular trauma, which we treated in addition to administering antibiotics since the warbler had been in a cat's mouth. Luckily, 26-301 made a full and rapid recovery and was released to continue on its migration journey.

🐦 There are several ways that you can help migrating birds!
- You can help migrating birds by putting stickers on windows to make them more visible and to reduce the chance for window collisions. There are now many options available for this purpose, some of which reflect UV light but are less obvious to our eyes.
- You can also reduce outdoor nighttime light sources when not needed, as these can confuse migrating birds and cause them to go off course and waste critical resources needed for a successful migration.
- You can keep cats indoors or take them outside in a controlled manner on a leash/harness or in a catio, which protects both your cat and a wide variety of wildlife species, including migrating birds.

08/19/2026

During the late summer and fall, juvenile raptors are learning how to hunt and survive independently and many run into trouble during this process. Broad-winged hawk 26–312 is one such bird and arrived to us with several wing injuries - a fractured clavicle, a fractured ulna, and a luxated (dislocated) coracoid from its attachment on the sternum. The clavicle and ulnar fractures were already partially stable, meaning that the bird had been healing them for some time already. The coracoid luxation was still very unstable as this is a difficult injury for birds to heal on their own without the wing being wrapped and immobilized. In addition, the hawk had significant bleeding into the respiratory system, which is a common secondary problem caused by the unstable coracoid bone end lacerating blood vessels and/or the nearby air sac.

We started by providing the hawk with pain and anti-inflammatory medications, oxygen therapy to support respiratory function, and general intensive supportive care. With the wing bandaged and bleeding halted, the hawk was able to come off of oxygen support within a couple of days and fully stabilized all of the injuries in under two weeks. The bird will soon be ready for outside pre-release conditioning and then migration back south for the winter. We are happy with this young hawk's progress and hope that it doesn't run into any more trouble this year!

$We are happy to report that our glossy ibis patient has healed their humeral fracture well in two weeks. This fracture w...$

08/16/2026

We are happy to report that our glossy ibis patient has healed their humeral fracture well in two weeks. This fracture was more challenging as there was a large degree of bone fragmentation, but the pieces have all healed together very nicely - see the pictures below for the healing progress. While many shorebirds can be high stress and difficult to manage in a temporary captive setting, this bird was a model patient throughout the process.

As their name suggests, glossy ibises’ feathers have an iridescent quality, shown in the close-up picture. They are migratory and this ibis has recovered just in time to regain full flight condition and prepare for a timely migration south for the winter. We have supplied thousands of earthworms throughout the process to support this bird’s large appetite!

$Back in February, we admitted a peregrine falcon with significant wing fractures to the carpometacarpus (the portion of ...$

08/11/2026

Back in February, we admitted a peregrine falcon with significant wing fractures to the carpometacarpus (the portion of the wing that includes the bones of the "hand"). The bird was transferred to us from Avian Haven for fracture management.

Because this area of the wing has a more limited blood supply, fractures like these may not always have a good outcome. Fortunately, with intensive care and fracture management, the peregrine successfully healed both the fractures and associated wounds, and we returned the bird to Avian Haven for initial flight conditioning.

For a peregrine falcon, however, simply flying in a large enclosure is not enough to appropriately determine whether the bird has regained the skills needed to survive in the wild after an injury like this. Peregrines are highly specialized aerial predators, and successful release requires not only strength and endurance, but also speed, agility, and precision needed to hunt.

From the early stages of this peregrine’s care, we were in communication with Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife about partnering with an appropriately qualified master falconer to complete the final stage of conditioning and evaluate the falcon for full release readiness. We were lucky to find such a partnership.

Over the last several months, this peregrine worked with a team of two falconers on building stamina, strength, and acrobatic flight abilities, which progressed to successful prey capture. After several months of care, we are thrilled to share that this remarkable bird was very recently released back into the wild!

We are grateful to everyone whose efforts made this outcome possible. Wildlife rehabilitation is truly a team effort, and this peregrine's journey is a wonderful example of what can be accomplished when we all work together.

What makes this release even more special is that peregrine falcons are a state-endangered species. With only 33 breeding pairs of peregrine falcons in Maine, each individual matters, particularly mature adults such as this one.

📸Photo by Sandra Mitchell: https://sandra-mitchell.com

08/08/2026

Our baby turtles have started to hatch! Each year when we receive injured turtles with eggs, we incubate these eggs and release the baby turtles back to near where their mother was found. In cases where we were unfortunately unable to save the mother, we are at least able to preserve her offspring and give them a second chance. For turtles that we are able to fix, fracture healing can take several months or more and this preserves their reproductive success for the year despite their injuries and circumstances.

Baby turtles receive no parental care after hatching and know instinctually what to do and how to find food. They initially derive nutrition after hatching by continuing to absorb their large yolk sac. Those that hatch during the later end of the season may overwinter in their nests before emerging the following spring.

The pictures show hatching and newly hatched painted turtles - we also have snapping turtle eggs incubating, but they have not started hatching yet.

08/04/2026

Patient 26-296 is a glossy ibis, a large wading bird that comes up to Maine in the summer. This bird was transferred to us from Avian Haven to repair a humeral fracture and neck laceration. Post surgery, the ibis happily returned to consuming vast quantities of earthworms as you can see in the video. While this bird will eat some other things as well, earthworms are a strong preference, making this an expensive patient! If you are able, consider making a donation to help this patient and others currently in care.

https://givebutter.com/cEj3n0

08/01/2026

Bald eagle 26-145 was admitted to us in early June with severe heavy metal toxicosis caused by a combination of zinc, copper, arsenic, mercury, and a small amount of lead. After initial intensive care and several rounds of chelation therapy, the eagle was ready for pre-release conditioning at Avian Haven. The eagle slowly built back up to release ready condition and we took it back to Old Town where it was found for release. We are very happy for this eagle’s dramatic recovery from very significant heavy metal poisoning and hope that this bird does well in the future!

$We received another wood turtle recently, this one with multiple significant fractures, presumably from being hit by a v...$

07/29/2026

We received another wood turtle recently, this one with multiple significant fractures, presumably from being hit by a vehicle. This large male weighs over 3 lb, the largest that we have admitted so far. He also has signs of having survived prior trauma, including part of his tail having been previously amputated and healed. Despite all of this, the turtle has been alert and active from admission and we recently surgically stabilized his fractures with wires around the shell periphery. See the pictures for the process - the turtle had three fractures, one involving each bridge and one along the carapace. Now the turtle will spend time recuperating and healing until he is ready to go back home.

Wood turtles, like many of our native turtle species, are long lived and can live up to around 60 years old. As this is a large adult, he could be many decades old and each individual is of vital importance to the population, as wood turtles are still a species of special concern in Maine.

07/22/2026

Just as our domestic animal pets like to play, young wild animals also do this and it serves a real practical purpose in preparing them for independent adult life. Carnivores such as these young weasels must practice stalking and capturing prey, and they start by trying out these basic behaviors on their siblings! Just as we must practice a new skill to improve and refine our techniques, young animals, while guided strongly by instinct, must go through some trial and error to become skilled in a behavior. These young weasels benefit from having a buddy as they mature for this reason and others, and they are both doing very well and continuing to grow rapidly!

Address

1014 Bennoch Road
Old Town, ME
04468

Telephone

+12078148980

Website

http://www.mainewildliferehabilitation.org/

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