Friday night when I completed composing the very first variation of this column, the rose-breasted grosbeaks were running almost a week behind schedule. It was a huge dissatisfaction.
I questioned if I had actually jinxed the return of grosbeaks. Maybe I shouldn’t have actually specified so with confidence in an April 14 column that the gorgeous birds were headed our method and would show up in Hopkinsville any day.
Then very first thing Saturday early morning I opened an email from a Hoptown Chronicle reader who said 3 grosbeaks had actually simply gotten to her Owen Drive residence. They were consuming peanuts from a feeder in her backyard.
So I looked outdoors to the feeder in my yard. And there he was — a male grosbeak with the distinct splash of red on his white chest. Later in the day my other half found a 2nd male.
While the birds appeared to be a little late this year, my very first column about them had actually taken a trip effectively. I spoke with numerous Hoptown Chronicle readers who likewise appreciate the males and look for them every spring. (The women are less fancy. They are brown with touches of yellow.)
I even spoke with a bird supporter in Philadelphia who checked out the column and desired me to understand that I had most likely slipped up a couple of years ago when I let a shocked grosbeak rest on the patio area after he flew directly into our glass door. Although I composed that the bird recuperated after numerous minutes and flew up into our ash tree, a member of the Bird Safe Philly group said the majority of birds ultimately pass away after flying into a glass door or window. She recommended I discover a certified bird rehabber in our location and be gotten ready for a rescue the next time this takes place.
“Never let a window-stricken bird fly off,” she composed. “Flight is NOT a sign of health.”
Call me hesitant, however I seriously questioned there was anybody around Hopkinsville accredited to save songbirds that fly into difficult items.
But simply to eliminate the possibility, I browsed online.
You understand where this going, right?
Of course there is a federally certified songbird rehabber in Christian County. I called the number and got a message: “If you need wildlife help, please text me.”
I texted and recognized myself.
That’s when I found out that Lynn Hazelrigg, who simply occurred to be my boy’s very first grade instructor almost thirty years earlier, was the specialist I was looking for.
Lynn lives a couple of miles beyond town and runs the Hidden Springs Sanctuary on her farm. She received her federal license from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last fall. The day we spoke, she was looking after some squirrels, one crow with a damaged wing, 2 robins, one finch, one dove and a couple of infant birds that seemed wrens. Sometimes small birds cannot be recognized up until they grow a bit.
Also on the farm are 2 doves — one male called Joey and a female who simply passes Dove — that bonded with Lynn throughout their rehabilitation. They are complimentary to leave however select to spend time. The female typically strokes in and sits a while on Lynn’s head as she’s doing tasks.
The federal accreditation procedure for a bird rehabilitation license took Lynn more than a year. She trained under a bird specialist at the Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary about 30 miles northwest of Elizabethtown. She’s likewise had a Kentucky license for almost ten years to rehab mammals.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife specifies wildlife rehab as a “process of rescuing, raising, and arranging for veterinary medical care of orphaned, sick, displaced, or injured wildlife with the goal of releasing the wildlife back to its natural habitat.”
Lynn informed me that her late other half — the Rev. Jim Hazelrigg, who passed away in January 2017 — motivated her to get her very first wildlife rehabilitation license.
“Now this is my reason to get up in the morning,” she said.
Before she retired from mentor in 2018, Lynn generally had animals in her primary school class. It was a natural development from there to her farm.
Lynn does all of her rehabilitation work as a volunteer. If anybody who leaves an animal at her sanctuary wishes to make a contribution to help her spend for materials, they can do that through her Venmo account, @Lynn-Hazelrigg.
“I’ve been amazed at the generosity,” she said.
When she’s looking after birds, Lynn feeds them about every 90 minutes throughout the day. Occasionally when she’s driving relative to a physician’s appointment out of town that needs her to be far from home the majority of the day, she’ll pack a few of the birds into a cage and bring them with her. She’ll discover a dubious area and look after the birds while her relative are inside a medical workplace. Then they all head home, having actually been fed and looked after.
Last spring, somebody in Hopkinsville brought a hurt rose-breasted grosbeak to Lynn. The rehabilitation achieved success and she had the ability to launch the bird.
If you require assist with wildlife rehabilitation, you can text Lynn at 270-889-7107.
Meantime, I’ll be counting birds at my house. We found a 3rd grosbeak Sunday early morning.
