Birds take flight from rehabilitation facility

NOBLE, Okla.—A group of birds that were taken to a wildlife rehabilitation facility earlier this year took flight for the first time Saturday.

The extreme heat and drought in July forced baby Mississippi Kites from their nests long before they were ready to care for themselves.

Mississippi Kites don’t like to feed their babies on the ground so the little birds were left to fend for themselves.

That’s when more than 400 birds arrived at Wildcare in need of help.

Rondi Large, Director of Wildcare, said, “We had 74 people step up to the plate as new volunteers and came out and fed Mississippi Kites for us. And if you can think about it, that’s meticulous; standing on your feet, hand feeding these baby raptors in their outside flights when it was 100 degree. So it was a phenomenal effort in the community to help us do that.”

Wildcare usually takes in around 4,500 animals a year, but this year will top that because of the extreme heat.