Goshawk, Barred Owl, Red-tails, Broadwing, Nighthawk, & Great-horned Galore

Although baby season has slowed down for this season the clinic is still overflowing with patients. Let's start with a batch of good news. We enjoyed fantastic weather these past couple of weeks which is great for RELEASES. Watching the babies grow up is one of my favorite parts of the summertime. After seeing songbirds come in featherless and pinky-sized and raptors come in looking like abominable snowmen, it's the best feeling in the world to be able to watch them fly freely into the sky in the unruly, teenager phase.

These past couple of weeks gave way to several releases of this summer's babies, and we still have several more to go! Here's some photos of the birds before and during release. The list of released birds included several barn swallows, several Eastern phoebes, cardinal, yellow-rumped warbler (also known as a
butter-butt"), goldfinch, chipping sparrows, bluebirds, a couple of broad-winged hawks, turkey vulture baby, and 10 merlins. The following are photos of some of the released.

 Yellow-rumped warbler before release. See why they get the nickname "butter-butt"?

 Cardinal just before release

 Rehabilitator Brennan opening a box full of songbirds, first out of the gates, a beautiful bluebird

One of several barn swallows released. They all immediately took to the air and began to catch bugs!

 Although she's not quite ready for release yet, this Great-horned owl spends several hours in our long flight hallway each day.

 These two photos were taken right after release. This young turkey vulture graced the blog several weeks back as a white fluff-ball with a black face. After several weeks under the care of a foster parent, this young turkey vulture is soaring high above REGI daily with his new wild family!

We love releases here at REGI. It's always a reason to celebrate. The time and effort put into each individual bird adds up to countless man hours. Even though these birds were ready for release, new patients are coming in daily just beginning their rehabilitation process. We've admitted raptors, wetland birds, and a BABY GOLDFINCH within this past week (I'm not sure what the goldfinch's parental units were thinking when they decided that NOW was a good time to lay eggs). The next several pictures are updates from the clinic and their stories.

This Northern goshawk was found under someone's deck. It most likely had a run in with a window while hunting it's favorite prey... other birds. Her wings are now un-taped from her injury, and she spent several hours in our flight hallway today. The prognosis at this point is great!

This red-tailed hawk came in very thin and a little spacey with what we believe to be West Nile Virus (WNV). The virus is spread through bites of infected mosquitoes. WNV has several effects on birds. Everything from their eyesight to their feathers can be damaged indefinitely. 

 Great-horned owl that entered the clinic after being found in someone's front yard mid-day. Strange behavior for a GHO.

This common nighthawk was also found mid-day. Strange for a bird that flies nearly exclusively in the dusk and night hours. Although they have "hawk" in their name don't let it fool you, they only prey on insects. As of right now he eats every half-hour and can handle nearly 15 waxworms at a time!

Barred owl that came in very thin. He's been on a liquid starvation diet since admittance, and will likely begin to eat solid foods again soon

 Another red-tailed hawk exhibiting signs of WNV.

Getting just as much attention as the raptors is this little sora that was found under someone's vehicle. A strange place since they are mostly found in thick vegetation wetlands. He's thin, but is fattening up as we speak.

Although the songbird babies have flown the proverbial nest, the clinic is still very busy. WNV seems to be hitting the raptor world hard this year in the Wisconsin northwoods, and each bird that enters the clinic comes in a very critical state. Several of these birds come in very weak, emaciated, and spooked. One minute you look into their eyes and everything is okay, the next minute they are looking at you as if you were a giant purple monster and exhibiting more aggression. Each bird is handled with extreme care.

Time to head out for the day! Remember... REGI TOURS HAVE BEEN EXTENDED THROUGH SEPTEMBER! Tours will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10AM. Spots are limited, and pre-registration is required. Please call (715)623-2563 to reserve your spots!

- Katie Rymer, Assistant Avian Rehabilitator 

Owl Releases, Ducklings, Pine Siskins, Barn Swallow, and a Woodcock

Good afternoon everyone. It seems like every moment it gets busier here at REGI. The education department is doing programs just about every day and the rehabilitation team is seeing many new patients brought through the doors. Definitely no dull moments around here! We have a few new patients we'd like to introduce you to.

This baby American Woodcock was transported from another facility in Wisconsin to REGI for care. He was found sitting still alone on a path. The people who found him did not realize that woodcocks hold still to camouflage themselves when they sense danger. It is likely that his mother was just a few feet away, also holding still as to not be detected. Upon examination, this youngster has proved to be perfectly fine. Unfortunately, he was unintentionally kidnapped because the well-meaning people who found him didn't understand the natural behaviors of woodcocks. If you find a bird that you think may need help, please call REGI before catching the bird and we can help you determine the best way to help it. 

These Mallard ducklings are orphans from three separate families. They have come from various locations, each with a different tale to tell. One was found completely alone in the Wisconsin River. A very caring individual put on big waders and splashed into the river to rescue the little duckling. The three of them have become a very tight little family even though none of them are related.

This Barn Swallow is suffering from starvation. These amazing little birds spend summers here in North America and winters in South America. It is likely that he returned to Wisconsin after his long migration when we were seeing unseasonably warm days. These beautiful and graceful birds eat only insects and they do so while in flight. When you see swallows zooming through the air it is likely that they are catching little insects you may not even see. When our weather turned from warm to cool in April the numbers of insects declined. He was unable to find enough food for himself and he began to starve. Because these birds swallow food in flight, they are notoriously difficult to feed in captivity. This little man has us all very excited because he is responding very well and is eating with some encouragement. We aren't out of the woods yet, but we are pleased with his improvements!

We don't have photographs for these next patients, but they have important stories nonetheless. We admitted three Pine Siskins each with injuries from being bitten by cats. Sadly, these three birds have passed away from their severe bite wounds. We are constantly telling people how dangerous it is to let their pets run loose, yet we continue to see so many victims from cat and dog bites here at REGI. Dogs and cats are extremely dangerous for not only birds, but for many other wild animals. Please, keep your pets in the house or on a leash to spare the lives of birds as well as for the safety of your pets. 

REGI recently did a program for the First Universalist Unitarian Church in Wausau and they collected donations for us! When Samantha presented Marge with the check, Julie, the Western Red-tailed Hawk was so excited with the donations that she tried to take the check for herself! We explained to Julie that she would be paid in mice instead and she thought that was a fair trade. Thank you First Universalist Unitarian Church!

We also celebrated the release of a few of our owl patients! Three Great Horned Owls and a Barred Owl have recovered completely and are now back in the wild where they belong. Owls are nocturnal creatures so we release them at night. This makes getting decent photographs of owl releases a bit of a challenge. We managed to get a few photos for you to enjoy.

This lovely little female Barred Owl just passed her final examination and is about to spend the rest of her days back in the wild! (Photo by Don Gibson)

Marge gives the Barred Owl a few moments to gather her thoughts. It is at this point when the owl realizes she will soon be back home. (Photo by Don Gibson)

The dark spot in the middle of the photograph is one of the three Great Horned Owls that were released.  We wish them good luck in their "second" lives and we hope they never have to come back to REGI again! (Photo by Alberta Halfmann)

That's all for today. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Karissa Mohr
Wildlife Educator

Burned Osprey, Poisoned Great Horned Owl, Pine Siskin, and a Saw-whet Owl Release

We have had a busy weekend here at REGI. People are becoming more active outside as spring warms up and that leads to more birds being found in need of help. If you find a wild bird in need of help, please don't hesitate to call. (715) 623-4015.

Monday we admitted an adult Osprey suffering from burns. His primary flight feathers, tail feathers, and many of his body feathers have been badly scorched leaving only the stiff feather shafts. He has some flesh burns on his left wing, but overall does not have other burns to his skin.

The pointed shafts are all that remain after his feathers were scorched.

The cause of these burns are from an open methane flare used to burn off methane build-up at a landfill in Wausau, WI. The Holtz-Krause landfill was capped and the "active gas extraction system" (including the methane flare) was constructed in the early 1990s. These open flares are used across the country to control the gasses released by landfill waste. While this is the first case of this nature that REGI has seen, this is an issue that many other rehabilitators across the country deal with quite frequently. The problem with these methane flares or methane burners is that methane produces a clear flame- raptors don't see it. Capped landfills provide prime habitat for rodents; a staple in the diet of many raptors. Ospreys eat almost exclusively fish, but they have been known to feed on small mammals. The flames coming from the burners may be constant or intermittent and raptors, such as this unknowing Osprey, use the burner as a perch while resting or waiting for food to come by. Without warning, the methane ignites and instantly incinerates the raptor perching above.

It's not only raptors that are injured or killed by open methane burners, songbirds can also be killed by flying through the flame or perching on the burner. It isn't known if other birds have been killed or injured at this site, but this is the first REGI has seen.

Ospreys winter in South America, and this male just returned to Wisconsin with his life-long mate. It doesn't seem fair that after all of his hard work during migration, this is how he ends up. This Osprey was relatively lucky in that he did not burn to death or even have more severe burns on his body. He will miss out on breeding season this year and his mate may be forced to find another. He will receive supportive care at REGI until he molts and grows new feathers, which may take many months.

If you would like to help this Osprey, we would be very grateful for donations of panfish or monetary support.

Burns on his skin can be seen along the Osprey's left wing.

His wing, tail, and body feathers have been so severely burned that only the shafts remain. The white fuzzy feathers, which can be seen along his left wing in the photo above, are downy insulation feathers, now visible because the outer feathers have been burned off. 

This Great Horned Owl  was found in someone's backyard in Wausau, WI, unable to fly. He is very thin and low in weight. His feathers are in poor condition and he has at least two kinds of external parasites; hippoboscid flies and feather lice. It is likely that he is also suffering from secondary poisoning from rodenticide. A rodent ingested mouse poison and was then preyed upon by this owl. Consequentially, the poison passed from the mouse to the owl. Sadly, cases like this are common. They are also 100% preventable. Don't trust companies that claim their poison is "safe". Rodenticide (rodent poison) is extremely dangerous for wild and domestic creatures and should never ever be used. If you or someone you know still uses rodent poison, please encourage them to stop.

This male Great Horned Owl was admitted in low weight with poor feathers, external parasites, and likely rodenticide poisoning. 

This little Pine Siskin was found near Hatley, WI with a broken left wing. Pine Siskins are currently on their migration back to Canada for the summer, but this little one will have to wait for his wing to heal. 

This Pine Siskin was admitted with a broken wing. His wings are taped in the proper position to allow the bone to heal correctly. If you look closely you may see a splash of yellow on his tail. The streaks of yellow on the tail and wings of Pine Siskins and their heavily streaked breast and back are identifying characteristics which may help you pick them out of a mixed-species flock.

We do have some good news to tell you about. A little Northern Saw-whet Owl who came to us in late winter after being poisoned has been released! This poor little male was found, puffed up, and unresponsive. He was suffering from internal bleeding that comes along with rodenticide poisoning.

The little male Northern Saw-whet Owl, looking much healthier and alert than when he was admitted, is just moments from release. 

Executive Director of REGI, Marge Gibson gently passes the little Saw-whet to the woman who found him. Without her help and watchful eyes this little male would have died from rodenticide poisoning. Now healed, she sent him back to the wild where he belongs.

I was able to take a small video for you of our Snowy Owl patient eating her lunch. This video may bother some viewers so watch with caution. All of our raptor patients are fed dead animals. In this video the Snowy Owl impressively gulps down her lunch. Find more of our videos at our YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/raptoreducationgroup!

Video above: This Snowy Owl was admitted to Raptor Education Group, Inc. (REGI) in February 2012 suffering from starvation and Trichomonas gallinae. She is now strong enough to digest solid food and is shown here eating a dead mouse. She had already gulped down two others by the time I could get my camera ready.

That's all for today! Thanks everyone!

Karissa Mohr
Wildlife Educator

New Patients, Lead Poisoning, and Great-horned Owl Releases

I have a mini update for you all. We continue to see many patients coming through our door, but here is just a peek at what we have now.

I'm going to spend a moment talking about the first patient I'm introducing to you because this is a species that isn't common to our clinic or our blog. Yellow-rumped Warblers are beautiful and fascinating little birds that spend their summers in the far north and west. This time of year, they begin migrating to their warmer wintering grounds in the south, and luckily for us, they pass through our area so we can enjoy their beauty for a short while. The most fascinating fact about these little birds pertains to their digestive system of all things. These birds can forage on bayberries and their relatives which have a thick coating of wax for protection that other birds cannot digest. Because of this unusual trait, Yellow-rumped Warblers can subsist on these berries and live farther north than some of their warbler cousins.

Photo above: This beautiful Yellow-rumped Warbler accidentally hit a window near Woodruff, WI. Luckily for this little one, only a few days of recuperation were needed for a full recovery, and he has been released to continue on his migration southward.


Photo above: This lovely little male Barred Owl was likely hit by a car and has a wing fracture. He is in very good weight, and is expected to make a full recovery!


Photo above: This gorgeous female Bald Eagle was seen feeding on a gut pile when she then tipped over onto her back. She was rescued, and when she arrived at our clinic, a blood test was done to determine if she was suffering from lead poisoning. The results were off the charts. The good news for this beauty is that she is with us for treatment, and with a lot of perseverance on her part, she can pull through. Please excuse the "crumbs" on her beak, she just finished enjoying a piece of salmon when I photographed her.

During and after hunting season, many Bald Eagles are brought to our clinic suffering from lead poisoning. Because they are scavengers, Bald Eagles are at a huge risk of becoming poisoned by lead this time of year. When a deer is shot, bullet fragments containing lead are left in the woods in gut piles. Unknowingly, scavengers, including Bald Eagles, feed on these gut piles and become very ill. With luck, these poisoned animals are found and brought to us for help, but sadly, those that do not get help will ultimately die. Making the switch to non-lead ammunition can be the difference between life and death for wildlife. I am a hunter myself, and the few extra dollars I spend on a box of lead-free ammunition, is worth it. Please, if you are a hunter, make the switch.


Things are slowing down a bit this fall, and we have been experiencing the joy of release with many of our patients. Two Great-horned Owls that were originally admitted due to starvation and being hit by a car were able to make a full recovery and are now free once again!

The gun deer hunting season is fast approaching, and that means it is time once again for Have-A-Heart for REGI! Those of you who are hunters, or know anyone who hunts, please save the deer hearts for us! Heart provides an excellent source of nutrition for the raptors in our care, and you can do your part to help us out. Information about drop-off sites can be found on our website under the "events" tab or by following this link!

Thanks everyone!

Karissa Mohr
Wildlife Educator

Great Horned Owl from Wausau is Released!

The day of release is a very exciting day for all of us here at REGI and it is what keeps us going through hard times. Thursday evening, a beautiful adult female Great Horned Owl was returned to the wild after a harrowing experience. Hopefully her stay at REGI becomes a distant memory and may she never be in the hands of humans again!

This Great Horned Owl was admitted at the end of December suffering from wounds consistent with shotgun pellets. She had a protuberance at one of her wing joints that turned out to be a supersized blood blister. The wonderful people from The King Company in Wausau spotted her in the ditch, scooped her up, and brought her to safety. A big thanks to Bud Graveen, Cory Pagel, Jon Krause, and Anne Buntrock from The King Company for helping this beautiful owl! Anne lovingly named the owl "Jerri" in honor of her father and that's how she was known during her short stay at REGI.

Photo above: The adult female Great Horned Owl, Jerri, upon admission. (Photo credit: Marge Gibson)

Photo above: Here you can see that large blood blister protruding from her wing joint. (The grey bump just in front of the index finger is the blood blister). Her gunshot wounds were a few days old when she was found which is why there is no blood in these photos. (Photo credit: Marge Gibson)

Photo above: My apologies for the blurry picture, but it shows the Great Horned Owl exercising her healing wing. By the way she flies, you would never know she had been shot. I am constantly amazed by what birds can overcome.

Photo above: Alberta Halfmann, REGI’s avian rehabilitation technician, extends the owl’s once-injured wing to show how the wounds have healed. (Photo credit: Gene Popp)

Photo above: Anne Buntrock, one of the owl’s rescuers, and Alberta Halfmann pose for a good bye photo. (Photo credit: Gene Popp)

Photo above: Just moments before release. You can see the anticipation in Alberta’s and the owl’s expressions. (Photo credit: Gene Popp)

Photo above: If you look closely you can see the owl, Jerri, back in the wild. She is the dark spot in the center of the photograph. Good luck, friend! Being that owls are mainly nocturnal, they are released just after sunset. (Photo credit: Gene Popp)

It is, of course, illegal to shoot any raptor and the reasons to do so are beyond me. Raptors provide us all a great service by keeping rodent populations in check and are very beneficial to healthy ecosystems. If you’re like me, you love rodents as much as much as any animal, but an over abundance of the little critters is no good for anyone, including the rodents themselves. By preventing rodent over population, raptors make sure that everything remains in balance.

Thanks again to everyone at The King Company! We all love a happy ending!

We currently have 20 Bald Eagles in our care so all of the fish donations are still very helpful! There are only a few more weeks of ice fishing according to our groundhog friend’s predictions so get out there and have some fun. Don’t forget that our hungry eagles will take the extra catches off your hands!

Thanks everyone!

Karissa Mohr
REGI Wildlife Educator

Bald Eagle Release This Sunday!

If you have never seen a Bald Eagle returning to the wild, it is truly one of the most beautiful and exciting things you can experience. This Sunday, January 31, REGI will be releasing 2 (and possibly more) eagles that have been fully rehabilitated to the place where they belong! This is your chance to witness these powerful birds' return to the wild. REGI's goal is always to rehabilitate our patients to 100% before release. These birds are some of our success stories.

The release will take place at high noon (12:00 no later!) so make sure to be there on time if you want to see it happen. The eagles will be released from the VFW Park in Sauk City, WI. The weather forecast calls for 20 degrees and partly sunny, but in the case of bad weather any cancellation info you can go to the Ferry Bluff Eagle Council website. The Ferry Bluff Eagle Council website also has directions to the VFW Park in Sauk City, WI. We hope to see you there!

-Molly McKay

Timing is Everything

Timing is everything for a successful release. For this Eastern Screech Owl his release was a long time coming! He came into REGI in June of 2008 still covered in some juvenile gray fuzz. When he first arrived he captured every summer intern’s heart with is small size and awkward appearance. He came to us with an injured wing, perhaps resulting from a first flight gone wrong. We carefully set his wing and kept a close eye on him. It didn’t take us long to see this bird had a strong personality and he didn’t want anyone to forget that he was NOT happy about his current situation and would like to leave us as soon as possible. The annoyed look on his face only became fiercer if we made any comments on his “cute” appearance. Don’t let his small size fool you: this screech owl was one tough raptor!

All summer we nursed him back to health. He just needed time to heal his wing and grow up a little. When September came he was zipping around the flight cage and was at a good weight. We started to talk about when and where he should be released. Screech owls migrate slightly south during the Wisconsin winters and we knew he needed to be on his way soon. We decided that he would be released in early October near Milwaukee. The week before his set release date we started to notice some scraggly feather. A few days later he had decided to go into a full molt! When we release a bird they need to be in perfect condition and he had feathers sticking out every which way. Sigh. This was not his time.

Even though he was finished molting near the end of November we had to over winter him at REGI. Winter takes forever in my mind. I can’t image what a long winter it was for this spirited screech owl. Finally, in March spring started to arrive in Wisconsin. Once again we started to talk about when and where to release our feisty little screech owl. The weather was becoming better but this little screech had never hunted on his own. We were concerned with no other food alternatives beside small rodents this early in the season of his success rate. We wanted to make sure his transition back to the wild would go smoothly. A little more time was needed for the insects to return, which is another food source for screech owls.

“Happy May Day!” I told the little screech owl as he bit the towel I was picking him up with “Your time has finally come.” I drove him down to Stevens Point and under the safety of the night Jean Rice and I watched him fly away from her back deck into the nearby oaks. The REGI staff had done all we could. It was time for him to take that attitude and put it to some good use for hunting or finding a mate.

Nicole Swanson

Busy REGI Day with Babies, Birthday and Releases

(Photo: Six week old Great-horned owl when admitted to REGI.)

Babies are springing up all over these days and tumbling into the REGI facility.

Tis the season for Great-horned Owlets to leave their nest. Young Great-horned Owls hatch in February in our region. They are the season’s earliest nester. Owlets typically leave the nest before they can fly. There are lots of biologic reasons for that and it works out to their advantage once the owls reach adulthood. The problem occurs if they are in an area that is close of human population centers. People cannot help but notice these adorable little fluff balls. As a result they are often picked up and taken into captivity. We have taken many calls this spring about Great-horned Owlets. Most of the time our role ends after advising the finders it is a natural part of an owlet’s life. We encourage people to try to make certain the little one is healthy and in no imminent danger from domestic animals such as cats of dogs and then to leave the area and let the youngsters be cared for by their parents. The parent birds are after all the best ones to raise their own babies. If the owlet has been injured, has truly fallen from a nest site too early and cannot be put back, or is an orphan, we can rear it here at REGI. All raptor orphans that come into REGI are raised by foster parents of their own species. They hardly know they are in captivity, and are not imprinted to humans, but there is no way that we can ever hope to do better than their own parents. It is a very costly process just in terms of supplying the young owls with enough natural food until they are hunting on their own and can be successfully released in October Mice cost us about $1.00 each. Great-horned Owls at age 4 -6 weeks can eat up to 13-17 mice a night each. They are little rodent eating machines. That is one reason they are so wonderful for the environment. When you do the math of how many days it is from April to October, you can see the dilemma.

We have one owlet in at this time. He is about six weeks old and is from the Wisconsin Rapids area. He is the victim of having fallen from a weak nest site which collapsed during a storm. The storm raged on and he was on the ground for thirty six hours. That was time to take action and bring him into captivity. We are very lucky to have Nicki Christianson; a State of WI permitted mammal rehabilitator in the WI Rapids area that helps out in emergency cases such as this. She took him in for the night during the storm and was able to give him emergency care and a safe place to be until her could be transported to REGI in Antigo the next morning.

Were it not for Nicki and other rehabilitators throughout the state and country with whom we network and our transporters, in this case Judy Marshall, that bring patients to Antigo, many patients would die before they ever got to REGI.

The owlet from WI Rapids had some internal bleeding from the long fall and was weak from his adventure, but within a day was placed with his foster parents. He will have minimal contact with us from now on. We supply food to the enclosure and the adults do the rest. We could learn so much about being parents from the wild avian world. The adults both male and female take over feeding and caring for young quickly and without question. Most importantly the youngsters need not be their own.

( Photo: Foster mom Great-horned Owl with injured GHO owlet)

We will handle the little one only when he has intermittent physicals to chart his growth rate. We will share photos of those events on this blog.


It is also the season also for ducklings to be hatched. Four newly hatched mallard ducklings found themselves in a storm sewer in Wausau, WI yesterday morning. A city of Wausau Police officer was their hero andn ours when he took time to get them out of the sewer. Mom and the other young had long since left the area so they were brought to REGI to be reared until they are old enough for release. They are eating well and we expect all will survive their harrowing beginning. A big thanks to the Wausau Police Department and the Marathon Country Humane Society for their help. ( Photo: Four Mallard ducklings warming up after being admitted to REGI)


Our long time friend and environmental educator, Steve Fisher had a birthday earlier this week. The REGI team is as close as many families. We use every opportunity to celebrate and have cake and goodies so birthdays are celebrated with great enthusiasm here. Congratulations Steve!
( Photo: Steve and the REGI team gather to celebrate Steves birthday.)


Releases are always a time of celebration. Several birds were released back to their wild home yesterday. Some we don’t have photos yet and will share during the upcoming week. A male Coopers Hawk in the photo below could hardly fly with the crop filled with food I gave him before her left REGI. He is just a year old and still has brown plumage and yellow eyes. Once he is an adult his feathers will be gray in color and his eyes dark orange. It is great to see them well and back out on their own.



It is stacking up to be yet another event filled day. Spring is HERE!

Best to all,

Marge Gibson © 2009

David Tower Memorial

Every once in awhile someone enters your life and you are changed forever more. David Tower was such a person to me. David recently passed away. We will miss him but feel blessed to have had him in our life. His smile and gentle nature are forever in our hearts.
David and Lillian Tower have been a big part of the REGI family for many years. When REGI was just beginning I noticed someone out side the eagle enclosure one evening. I went out thinking it was yet another person bringing us a sick or injured bird. Instead there were two people holding an envelope and smiling. David explained he had just retired from the Post Office and wanted to give us a donation for our work with wildlife. That gift would be the first donation REGI ever received. David and Lillian Tower were the first people to believe in us way back when.

I was humbled by David, his generous nature and honest approach to life. Though the years he and Lillian remained active volunteers. As often as possible they were part of bird releases here at REGI. It was the one thing that we could give them back for their time and faith in us. David had health problems and had to travel with oxygen tank. Still they came and he was even able to release birds tethered to that tank.

Last summer Lillian came to tend our flowers and brought the grave news that David was entering hospice for his illness. Lillian brought him one more time to meet some of our patients and see our young cranes as they grew. He smiled and although he was weak I know he enjoyed the visit. I took that moment to tell him how much he and Lillian have meant to us over the years. When someone believes in your dreams with you they become a part of you and that dream. He reached into his pocket book and gave me $40.00 for the birds. I protested but he insisted. I looked up at Lillian for guidance and all she said was, “That’s my husband.” So it was.

David passed away this spring. I wanted to do a memorial for him in the form of the release of a red tailed hawk. Time has gone by and finally we had the perfect hawk and it was the perfect day.

Lillian was at REGI today with the Master Gardening Club and a 4-H Club group doing a cooperative planting project at REGI. The day was perfect with a clear blue sky as I handed Lillian a beautiful adult male red tail to release in David’s memory. The bird flew well and strong. I meant it when I said the David is with us everyday and will remain a part of us forever. David continues to bring joy and happiness even in his memory. I cannot think a better way to go on in spirit.







David Tower made a difference in the lives of many. We are honored he chose to be a part of ours.

Marge Gibson