Just look outsid and see all the different birds that are out there right around us all the time, and a lot of them go unnoticed.

The ACC was founded in 2012 by a group of us who were friends, who liked birds, who really wanted to do something important for conservation.

We had a lot of meetings at coffee shops talking about wha the mission statement would be and what we'd be doing on a day to day basis, and we decided that our organization's mission would be to conserve the region's wild birds throug research, education and rehab.

We have several veterinarians at the hospital who volunteer their time to take a look at those birds for us and give them the veterinary care that they need.

We had a very interesting cas come in, and it was a two week old bald eagle chick that was in a nest in Pennsylvania, an there's a nest cam on the nest.

Lots of people watching these baby eagles as they hatched start to grow up.

One of the viewers saw the bird ingest a fish hook in a piece of fish, and through a large group effort, we were able to get that bird retrieved from the nest, brought it here to the Avian Conservation Center, and we were able to do surgery, extract that fish hook in that two week old neonata eagle chick, and rehabilitated over the course of a couple of weeks.

And within two weeks, the bird had grown in size, its incisions had healed and were able to replace it back in the nest.

And just this week those eagle checks have started the fledging process.

That's where they leave the nest and learn to be an eagle, how to find food and how to survive out there in the wild.

So it's a pretty remarkable story.

Lots of effor from lots of different people.

We also have an outdoor classroom here in Cheat Lake, West Virginia, where groups can come and visit the birds that live there.

We have about 20 non really civil birds that live at the outdoor classroom.

They're all sort of special needs bird that can't go back to the wild.

And we invite the public to come and meet those birds.

You can rehab all the birds that you want, but if you don't tell anyone about it, you know, you're almost no making a huge difference, right?

You're making a difference to the individual bird, of course but telling the story is very, very important for conservation.

And so at the ACC we bring in birds that are injured.

Maybe they've been hit by a car, maybe they've flown into a window, maybe they've been picked up by domestic housecat.

And the public finds them, brings them to our nonprofit, to our bird hospital.

So this is a hatch year, red shouldered hawk here.

We can tell it's a red shouldered hawk by the color pattern here on the wrist and wing, as well as the striping on the tail.

Okay, that's a red shouldered hawk.

And it's a hatcher bird.

Based on the plumag characteristics, the eye color.

That means it hatched this year.

So this was a brand new admission.

It just came in today.

So on physical exam I'm going to talk you through what we're doing.

I'm painting the keel which allows us to assess body condition in this birds a little underweight.

Many of our birds that are admitted are going to be a little bit leaner than they should be, because they've typically got something wrong with them.

They've had some trauma.

Maybe they've been down on the ground for a couple of days and they haven't eaten.

So nutrition is one of our key features that we look for in these new admissions.

Just like any other physical exam that a veterinarian or a doctor would do, we're going to listen to heart and Lungs as well as his air sacs.

The air sacs are part of the respiratory system.

And birds.

Birds have a very well adapted respiratory system and that includes air sacs.

That's a essentially transport for, air into the lungs for gas exchange.

And that's what allows birds to fly at very high altitudes and not pass out from lack of oxygen.

So the musculoskeletal system is important for us to evaluate here.

So on palpitating, the humerus, the radius, ulna, the elbow, the carpal joint, checking the feather quality as well.

Feeling for fractures, strains, sprains, bruising, pain, instability.

And unfortunately this wing we can palpate some instability here.

That hurts a little bit.

So I'm feeling a wing fracture here of two bones actually the radius and the owner.

Those are the bones of the forearm here.

So we'll get some X-rays and check the extent of that fracture to see if it's something we can repair or not.

This is mio, the broad winged hawk.

Broad winged hawks are one of our smaller haw species here in West Virginia.

Neo has been living under human care since 2010.

So she is pretty old.

For a broad winged hawk you might not be able to se because she keeps her good eye on you but she is blind in her left eye and that is the result of being hit by a vehicle.

Unfortunately, a hawk.

Most hawks that are blind in one eye can't return to the wil because their depth perception is affected by that blindness.

Neo can see, but not well enough to catch live prey, so she would not be able to really thrive in the wild.

So broad wing hawks that are blind in one eye are not releasable.

Bronwyn Hawks in the wild eat a small mammals rodents.

They will also eat reptiles and amphibians and some invertebrates.

They like to live in foreste areas, especially swampy areas where they can catch those frogs and snakes with us, though, neo eats mostly mice I think sometimes people believe that conservatio is something outside of humans, and that's not really the point.

I mean, conservation is taking care of ourselves.

It's not something that exists outside of people.

I mean, people are a part of the ecosystem.

People make a huge impact on the planet, and we exist on the planet because of the ecosystems that we are a part of.

Get outside and appreciate birds.

Lots of folks have interests in birdwatching or birding.

Many people have bird feeders that they put out.

And there's lots of organizations that are out there to help protect our native wildlife.

And so it's it's very, very important that that everybody contributes a little bit to keep the world wild.