Birds Archives - Veterinary Medicine at Illinois

Mourning Dove sitting on a towel between two gloved hands during a veterinary exam.

Wildlife and Domestic Cats

Wildlife Medical Clinic Overview Each year, the Wildlife Medical Clinic at the University of Illinois provides care to around 2,300 wildlife patients and about 120 different species. We take all native Illinois wildlife, excluding skunks…
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Captive Barn Owl sitting on a gloved hand.

Eerie Creatures- Scary or Misunderstood

As spooky season approaches, we want to talk about a few animals that get a bad rap for being scarier than they truly are. Owls Owls are often associated with death and bad luck and…
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Golden Plover Graphic with common and scientific name listed below images of a male and female plover. Image retrieved from Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Photo credit: Briansmallphoto.com

Deceptively Endangered? – The American Golden Plover

General Information and Characteristics Considered to be one of the fastest flying shorebirds, reaching speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, the American Golden Plover is a common migratory bird species found traversing the…
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Birds and Migration

Avian Migration Whether you’re an avid bird-watcher or a person who avoids parking under trees so that you don’t have to wash the droppings off of your car for the nth time this week, you’re…
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Young Virginia Opossum wildlife patient being held for an examine in the Wildlife Medical Clinic.

Should you rescue that animal? Understanding injured wildlife

Sydney Oliveira, WMC Program Coordinator, had the pleasure of chatting with Illinois Extension educators on their podcast, Everyday Environment. Some topics that were discussed include the following: To listen to the podcast or read the…
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Former WMC Ambassador Barred Owl, Vara, perched on a branch.

Remembering Vara

Several weeks ago, we made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize our resident barred owl, Vara. This decision came about due to an overall decline in her quality of life. Although Vara did not travel…
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Myth or Fact Wildlife Trivia

Join Kayla Buck, WMC Summer Ambassador Intern, and Emily Blum, WMC Summer Clinic Intern as they play some Wildlife Trivia on our most recent visit to CiLiving.

Eastern Screech Owl with an injured eye being held in a gloved hand for it's intake exam at the Wildlife Medical Clinic.

Case Study: The Hoot on Owl Eyes

Intake and Treatment Plan Earlier this year the Wildlife Medical Clinic received an Eastern Screech Owl, from one of our close partners the Illinois Raptor Center. Unfortunately, this little fella’ had an issue unlike most…
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Several finches eating bird seed on a platform bird feeder.

Coexisting with Wildlife

As cool weather starts to approach, people may soon find wild animals trying to move into their home and their yard. While some people have very environmentally friendly yards that encourage wildlife to visit, some…
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Injured thrush bird in a temporary carrier awaiting its triage exam.

Window Strikes in Birds

According to the American Bird Conservancy, it is estimated that collisions likely kill between 365 million to 1 billion birds annually in the United States. The total number of window or glass strikes is likely…
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