I got to release a crow back into the wild today

I volunteer at several places these days, now that I am retired. I tell people that I volunteer with animals, since my career was as a social worker, so I feel like I “gave at the office” with people and it’s now time for me to be with animals. This is one of the benefits of aging for me, to finally be more able to choose how and where I spend precious time. 

One of the places that I volunteer at is a wildlife rescue center. The center gets all kinds of injured animals brought in…lots of birds, opposums, squirrels, turkey vultures, and others. It’s baby bird season, so we have been very busy.

I am fairly new there and am amazed at how much there is to learn. This place does wonderful work, and there are many details to taking the best care of our patients that we can. This can involve creating the best type of nest for each species, the appropriate diet, how to best approach, and many other factors that we may not often think about.

Today I was asked if I wanted to release a crow back into the wild. Oh yes! This crow had gotten glue on it from those sticky traps and could not move freely. The hospital had treated it and it was now ready to be released. We try and release each patient close to where they were found. So, after my shift, off I drove to the location that I was given. This crow was completely quiet and so scared on the drive (in a kennel on the seat beside me). When we got there and I placed the kennel on the grass near some trees (in a lovely area where I had heard some other crows vocalizing), it stayed in the kennel, crouching in the back. I gently encouraged it and after a while tilted the kennel a bit to encourage it to come out. It eventually did and flew right up to a high branch on a tree that was across the road. It was so lovely to watch that flight of freedom. It stayed on the branches, hopping from one to the other for a while. After a bit, some other crows came by and they all flew off together. I don’t know if they were chasing it or just checking it out, but I hope and pray that friends will be made and that this beautiful bird will have its best life ever!

What a treat to be able to be involved in such a process. I am beyond grateful. To be helping in the wildlife hospital with feeding, cleaning, setting up things needed, preparing appropriate diets, giving medications, and a host of other duties (which also includes doing a LOT of laundry!). 

I pray that this bird lives a long and healthy life. I am grateful to have been part of its life for a few moments in time. It feels like a gift to be able to be part of another creature’s journey and healing. In a world that can feel filled with so much trauma and pain these days, I find it vital to try and balance some of that with times of joy and healing. I still listen to the news, donate and participate where and when I can, but also realize that I desperately need to balance all the trauma with some joy and peace. 

I think I can at times relate to all the injured or lost creatures that are brought into the wildlife center. Many of them may not make it, but many of them do. To be part of that effort and work toward healing is such an honor and gift. We humans are complex, and depending on our own wounds, can be cruel and destructive. But we can also be very kind, can remember our own pain and want to spare others from that, or at least help them to try and get back on their feet (or wings). There is still much kindness in this world. It is important to remember that, to see that, to honor that, to claim our membership in that tribe and not let others fool us into thinking that we no longer exist or that all is hopeless. 

We are better than the negative forces in power may want us to remember. We are more than they can defeat. We are stronger than we realize. And we can keep loving, keep being kind, keep helping to release us all back into life, back into healing, back into flying free while we still can. It may take time to recover from the wounds now being inflicted, but we must keep hope alive and keep working toward healing, if not for ourselves (I don’t know if I will live long enough to see things turn around) but for the generations to come. 

May we all heal, like my new crow friend, and fly free once again.