Home Destroyed. Parents Gone. Now What?
Peeping could be heard inside the three-foot high log. It wasn’t clear how many birds were nesting in the cavity or what species they were or how to extricate them. The hole in the log was large enough for a parent bird to come and go but not for even the small hands of Rehabilitation Technician Veronica Trosper.
If folks need yet another reminder of why not to trim or cut down trees in nesting season, this is it. Trees had been cut down on a Cambria property. When the owners became aware of sounds coming from inside one log, they set it upright and called an acquaintance – long-time PWC supporter Rita Burton, who transported the log and its contents to the PWC clinic.
The initial challenge was how to reach the birds. Coming to the rescue, facilities volunteer Larry Kahn carefully sawed a wedge from the log, allowing Trosper to reach in and remove what turned out to be two healthy nestling Hairy Woodpeckers.
For almost six weeks, they were cared for as they graduated from being hand-fed in a small enclosure to self-feeding in a larger one to practicing flight in an aviary. When they were ready to be released, Trosper returned with them to a wooded area next to their original site. She opened the carrier, and they flew off right away, making loud, distinctive calls that surely alerted other members of their group (a “descent” of woodpeckers) that they had come home.
Watch the video here:
