Northerly Island bird hospital now is open all year long 

By Hayley Carlton 

The bird hospital at Northerly Island now is open year round. Begun in 2006, it originally operated only during the fall and spring migrations, treating birds that crash into downtown buildings.

            Fall migration season began in September and lasts until mid-November. Birds sometimes become confused because some of the city’s taller buildings are made mostly of glass; birds look at the reflection and think they see an opening.

            According to Randi Doeker, director of the Birds and Buildings Forum, highrise residents of buildings where numerous birds crash should petition their buildings to make architectural changes. “It’s a design problem,” said Doeker, whose foundation works to educate the building industry on how to create bird-friendly structures. Adding film on the windows, for example, is one change that may help keep birds from crashing into an existing building.

            Flint Creek Wildlife Foundation of Barrington, IL, runs the bird hospital. The birds coming to Northerly Island do not stay overnight; staff members take those that cannot be treated and released right away to Barrington.

            The hospital is open every day from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. in the former Meigs Field terminal. Members of the public are welcome to bring injured birds to the hospital.

            “By being here at Northerly Island we were able to save 100 more birds last year,” said Dawn Keller, director of Flint Wildlife. Prior to opening the Northerly Island location, the staff had to take any birds Flint Wildlife rescued to its Barrington facilities, more than an hour’s drive from downtown.

            More than 80% of the birds that come to Flint Creek are released into the wild, up from 70% before the Northerly Island site opened.

            “Some of the birds are bleeding from the mouth and never would have made the trip to Barrington,” Keller continued. Though members of the public bring in some of the birds, most are brought by a team of volunteers who spend one early morning a week venturing around downtown looking for injured birds.

Keller said she sees a variety of birds, many of which are not native to the Chicago area, such as woodpeckers. The birds pass through Chicago on their way south, with some traveling all the way to the West Indies.

            The hospital also sees more ordinary birds, such as pigeons. Recently, a woman brought in a pigeon she found in front of the Civic Opera building. The bird had a badly broken wing and other injuries.

            “He must have been hit by a car,” said Jennifer Schmitt, a volunteer at the Northerly Island location. Schmitt and Keller worked on the bird, bandaging its wing and injecting it with fluids and painkillers before placing it in a box for its trip to Barrington.

            “He’s probably going to be with us for four months,” said Keller. After spending three weeks resting to repair its broken wing, the bird will receive physical therapy, including stretching its wings to keep them supple and practicing flying in an outdoor cage. “We want to make sure that a bird can survive in the wild before we release it,” Keller noted.

            The number of birds coming to Northerly Island varies. “Last week we saw over 200,” said Keller.

            The bird hospital’s site used to be part of Meigs Field, which Mayor Richard M. Daley closed in 2003 and turned into a nature center.

As for Northerly Island’s future, “We’re having a meeting to decide what to do with the area,” said Zvczdana Kubat, a Chicago Park District spokesperson. Kubat said the Park District plans to keep the former terminal and maintain the area as a nature center.

            The terminal usually is closed during the week in fall and winter (with the exception of the bird hospital), although the park does run “Polar Days” activities during the winter and operates a summer day camp.

            Keller hopes to expand the non-profit hospital’s hours as funds come in. The Chicago Park District donates the space for the hospital, but the City does not contribute any money toward running the facility.

            Among the expenses are medical supplies such as pain medication and syringes. Increased funds would allow the facility to hire a full-time staff member instead of relying on volunteers; those who actually treat animals must be federally licensed.

            As for the rest of Northerly Island, “I’ve been able to get a commitment for a $25,000 grant that would come for the Charter One Pavilion,” reported Bob O’Neill, president of the Grant Park Advisory Council and Grant Park Conservancy. The pavilion is a concert venue at Northerly Island built since the airport closed. “We really hope that the Flint Creek facility at Northerly Island will be the genesis for a nature center out there,” O’Neill said.

            Activists who support the return of Meigs Field still are around as well. “I’m sure I’m biased, but it is truly sad,” said Steve Whitney, president, Friends of Meigs Field. “The once vibrant terminal building is closed most days and falling into disrepair.” Whitney’s organization has a plan called Parks and Planes that would restore the airport while creating 20 acres of parkland.

            For more information about volunteering at Flint Wildlife, call (847) 602-0628. If you find an injured bird, place it in a paper bag or box with a paper towel in the bottom; then call the number above, which also rings at the Northerly Island location.