Thank YOU, Linda Koller

Linda Koller became a Happinester in the summer of 2015, during the height of baby season. She’s a devoted rehab volunteer who always brings something special for the birds, from newspapers to homemade treats. She even donated a double macaw cage, which serves as a flight cage for our songbirds. Linda has also gone out of her way to assist us in emergency out-of-town transports to Walden’s Puddle and UT College of Veterinarian Medicine.

After observing a Carolina Wren nest in her own backyard, Linda realized all the baby birds had died except one. She brought the singlet baby bird to Happinest for rehab. It turned out to be a brown-headed cowbird, which is a parasitic species. A female cowbird lays her eggs in the nests of other bird species, who then foster the cowbird baby as their own. We kept Linda’s cowbird for almost six weeks, and she released him once he was ready to go.

We appreciate Linda for all she has done and we look forward to more great experiences with her in the future!

Eclipse Returns to the Wild

Red tail hawk release on Dayton Mountain in Tennessee.

Early morning December 19, 2015 on Dayton Mountain, Happinest released a young Red Tail Hawk (Eclipse) with the help of our friend, Tigris.

Tigris and her mother, Jenny, found Eclipse grounded by the side of the road. He was emaciated and had an infected wound on his leg. Eclipse spent almost 3 months in rehab before being released back to the wild.