Our Residents
Our goal is to rehab and release all our rescues. However, there are times when a special bird may not be able to return to the wild. Meet some of our residents
ROCKY
Rocky is our Resident Red Shouldered Hawk
June 23rd, 2021 started out as a typical day at Wings Rescue Center. Volunteers were busy caring for rescued birds, feeding them, cleaning their cages and treating their ills and injuries. But that all changed when a call came in to rescue a fledgling hawk near Victoria.
Amateur photographers seeking the perfect shot caused the little Red-Shouldered Hawk to fall from its nest. Having a serious eye injury, the baby bird was brought to Wing’s for treatment. After two weeks at Wings, “Champion”, as it was called then, was transferred to another facility for long-term care and rehabilitation. Wing’s volunteers hoped that they would witness its release someday, as they had with so many other young birds in their care.
But, after several months of rehabilitation and testing, a veterinarian concluded that Champion was blind in one eye, it could not safely fly or capture its prey for food and thus, could never be released. Unless a permanent home could be found, it would have to be euthanized. That is when Wings received the second rescue call and the juvenile hawk, first known as Champion, had found a forever home.
On October 23rd Wings volunteers, Greg Simmons, a falconer and his wife Sally brought the hawk in. Sally asked whether the Center had given it a name while in their care. Kay Adams, Wings founder, and President, said its name was “Champion”. Sally responded, “you know, ‘Rocky’ was a Champion”. The name stuck.
Welcome Home Rocky.
Rocky’s new life started that afternoon. Greg Simmons placed the “anklets” (permanent leather straps) on its legs and attached “jesses” (short cords) attached to a leash. Wings full-time caregiver, Dana Rhodes, then began the first day of many to follow: hours upon hours of gentle one-on-one interaction to gain the bird’s confidence in preparation for Rocky’s training to be Wings' first Education-Ambassador Bird.
CHARLENE
Charlene is the resident great horned owl at Wings Rescue Center.
She was found by the side of a road in Jackson County. So, we believe that she had been hit by a car. She was brought to Wings Rescue Center in September 2021 and was then transferred to another rehab facility for continuing care. That facility kept her several months and deemed that she could not be released because of a wing injury. The options were to find her a new home or to euthanize her. The facility contacted Wings Rescue Center to see if we wanted her back. Well, no brainer! The other facility had named her Charles, thinking that she was a male. We decided that she was a female and renamed her Charlene.
Charlene has been a resident at Wings Rescue Center since May 2022. She started her training to be an education bird in November 2022.
Charlene is also known as “the princess” and “her highness.” Whatever she is called, she has a lot of “owl-itude.”
APOLLO
Apollo is our Resident Crested Caracara
Apollo came to us in March of 2022 as an adult bird with a damaged right wing and right eye. It was suspected that he might have had a collision with a vehicle.
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Because of his injuries it was determined that he could not be release back into the wild. So we chose to keep this wonderful bird as an education/ambassador bird.
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In November of 2022, We started working with him to get up on a glove
and hold so we could talk about how amazing he is in front of groups coming to our facility to learn about what we do at Wings Rescue Center. He was considered the “lion” of our resident birds because we know that they can be aggressive acquiring food. We had to take it slow to gain his trust and had to reach out to other rehabbers to get tips on how to work with him. He has taught us a lot and has become the “Rockstar” with our Residents and Winter Texans, many of which have never seen a Caracara.
Apollo is true to his species by being very inquisitive, smart and behaves like a vulture. He is considered a tropical black and white falcon with an orange and blue colored face with yellow legs.
He is of the family Falconidae. They are in the Genus: Caracara.
