Meeting Abstract
Wild birds, like most wild animals, are subject to naturally-occurring and human-caused incidents that greatly impact their health. One group of wild birds that are often the focus of wildlife rehabilitation efforts are birds of prey, or raptors. We are interested in both the circumstances that led to admittance of a raptor at the Illinois Raptor Center, in Decatur, Illinois, and their overall health state upon admission to the center and prior to their release. In this study, we examined hematological metrics associated with the health of birds, including hematocrit, protein levels, and calcium levels. Through this study, we also assessed baseline values for these physiological measures in different raptor species, many of which were previously unknown, and related them to variation in life history and natural history. Exploring these vital metrics in raptors will facilitate our understanding of ecophysiology in free-living raptors that are not in a rehabilitation setting as well as improvement of rehabilitation, and the ability to monitor the progress from the time of arrival to the time of successful release from rehabilitation.
