{"id":73690,"date":"2019-07-22T05:37:30","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T11:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=73690"},"modified":"2019-07-22T18:13:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T00:13:10","slug":"a-tribute-to-a-rehabber-and-good-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/22\/a-tribute-to-a-rehabber-and-good-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tribute To A Rehabber And Good Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our world needs more people in it like April Olson.<\/p>\n

Two years ago today wildlife rehab volunteer April Olson invited us to join her in a remote area of Box Elder County for a Burrowing Owl release. April is a veteran at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah<\/a> (WRCNU) and when it comes to birds she has a heart of gold.<\/p>\n

April remembered how disappointed Mia and I were that Galileo, the Short-eared Owl entangled in a barbed wire fence<\/a> we rescued in the same area, couldn’t be released back into the wild because his wing injury was too severe so I think she wanted to show us that sometimes these kinds of episodes have happier endings. Thus the invitation.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 100mm<\/em><\/p>\n

This is April releasing the Burrowing Owl that morning two years ago, a moment and an experience I won’t soon forget. As the owl flew off hell-bent for freedom it was chattering all the way. I hoped it was a happy chatter but more likely it was just pissed off. This little owl, not much larger than a soda can, had the same injury to the same tendon on the same wing as Galileo had so this story certainly could have had a different and more tragic ending.<\/p>\n

When done well releases like this one aren’t as easy as they look. You have to know what you’re doing because lots of things can and do go wrong, including but not limited to opportunistic Cooper’s Hawks waiting in the wings to take advantage of the situation. But April is a veteran and an expert. I don’t think she’d mind if I shared with you the fact that she no longer spends as much time as she used to at WRCNU caring for sick and injured birds because health problems arise when she spends too much time close to birds (allergies I believe). But she still regularly makes the long trips often required to release birds in appropriate habitats. Knowing how far she had to drive for this Burrowing Owl release the round trip had to have taken her most of the day.<\/p>\n

Rehabbers are a special breed. I couldn’t do what they do, not a chance. Many of their patients have horrific injuries and after investing your time, your resources and your heart in them you often lose them anyway. And then you go back and do it again. And again. It would be too emotionally draining for me so I simply couldn’t do it. Thankfully others can, and do.<\/p>\n

An enthusiastic tip of the hat to all rehabbers and rehab volunteers out there. April has been one the best and most dedicated for a very long time.<\/p>\n

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Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n