SINGED SWALLOWS: Seriously singed by a pilot light when they fell down a chimney into a gas fireplace, two violet-green swallows were sent to Powell River Orphaned Wildlife Society (PROWLS) as soon as possible.
The female survived, but it took months for her burned foot to heal and her flight feathers to grow back in. Fast moving and sea-green in colour, she is a beauty. The angry, somewhat burnt bird initially wouldn’t eat or move, protesting at the top of her tiny voice and spitting out the mealworms she was patiently fed, one by one.
Finally she began to eat but continued to swear at her caretakers. After four months she was molting and doing her wingersizes (hanging onto the perch and fanning her wings), then flying up to perch on branches in the cage.
It is a race against the calendar: will she be fit for migration before it is too late to release her? We hope she will soon return to the skies, performing acrobatic stunts over lakes and streams in search of flying insects. With their metallic green backs and iridescent purple rumps, white cheeks and stomaches highlighted by the sun, they are a delight to see.
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