On September 24, 2011, American Crow #11-2432 was admitted to the Wildlife Center of Virginia. The bird, estimated to have hatched earlier this year, was rescued on the ground near Pulaski, Virginia. While performing the initial examination, the Center’s doctors noted that almost all of the crow’s primary, secondary, and tail feathers were either broken or missing. The crow was also missing feathers from its head and body.  Due to the nature of the damage to its feathers, Dr. Dave McRuer and Dr. Miranda Sadar think that the crow was suffering from malnutrition and had been on the ground for quite some time before it was rescued.

The crow spent the first six weeks at the Wildlife Center gaining weight and growing some of its missing feathers — mainly on its head and body.  Because the crow was hatched this spring, the Center’s vets do not expect it to replace its broken and damaged flight and tail feathers until next spring when it should start its annual molt. Normally this would mean that the crow would spend the next few months of its life without primary, secondary, or tail feathers; however, the Wildlife Center of Virginia has just completed a complicated and lengthy procedure known as “imping” in an attempt to restore flight capability to American Crow #11-2432.

American Crow 2432 is anesthetized before the lengthy imping procedure. The extent of the damage to its feathers can be seen as Dr. Miranda Sadar holds what remains of its tail between her fingers.

Imping is the process of transplanting intact feathers from a donor bird of the same species to a recipient in need of new feathers. This is done by fitting and gluing new, transplant feathers into the trimmed original bases of the broken or missing feathers on the recipient bird. Although the technique has improved over the years, it was first developed by falconers centuries ago. In the case of American Crow #11-2432, the Wildlife Center admitted an adult crow in early December who, unfortunately, did not live very long after arriving for treatment. As unfortunate as its demise was, the crow passed away with all of its primary, secondary, and tail feathers intact and the Center’s vets decided that they would make good candidates for imping.

Dr. Miranda Sadar and Frederick Minazzoli, a veterinary extern from The College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, removed the transplant feathers from the deceased crow and prepared them for imping by cutting their bases and laying them out in order on pieces of medical tape—one piece of tape for each wing and another for the tail.

Feathers from the donor crow's left wing await imping.

On the afternoon of Monday, December 12, Dr. Miranda and Fred began the arduous task of replacing American Crow #11-2432’s primary flight feather and tail feathers. The crow was anesthetized for the duration of the procedure. While Dr. Miranda carefully lined up each of the donor feathers with the corresponding feather shaft on crow #11-2432, Fred whittled slim pieces of bamboo to insert into the hollow shaft of the crow’s broken feather and the hollow shaft of the donor feather.  Once the whittling was complete, Dr. Miranda used epoxy to glue the bamboo pieces into the ends of the two feathers—securing the transplant feather to its new base.

Dr. Miranada lines up a tail feather to be fitted during the imping procedure.

Dr. Miranda fits the new tail feather into the old feather's shaft .

The entire procedure took more than two hours, and although imping is sometimes used to replace broken feathers in the wings and tails of birds, it is rare that all of the feathers need to be replaced. However, once Dr. Miranda and Fred finished their work, American Crow #11-2432 looked like a new bird! Instead of broken shafts, the crow’s wings and tail were now fitted with long replacement feathers. Once it was awake and returned to its enclosure, the crow flew almost the entire length of the enclosure before landing on the ground. Since Monday, the Center’s rehabilitation team has observed the crow in flight several times, and at the moment, the crow’s “new” feathers are all still intact.

Dr. Miranda and Fred imping #11-2432's wing feathers.

The final feathers are fitted into place.

The Center’s team will continue to monitor the crow over the coming weeks to see if the feathers remain unbroken and in place.

December 29 update

So far, so good — American Crow #11-2432’s imped feathers continue to remain intact.  The veterinary team will continue to monitor the feathers each week, while the crow flies and builds up stamina.  If all continues to go well, the crow should be able to be released in a few weeks.  

January 23 update

After more than a month, American Crow #11-2432 has not lost any of the feathers Dr. Miranda and Fred imped! Rehabilitators Suzanne Doell and Amber Detrick have also observed the crow flying in its enclosure almost every day and it continues to eat very well on its own. However, the hospital staff agrees that it still too soon after its “imping” operation to plan for its release yet. For now the veterinary and rehabilitation staff will continue to watch the crow in its enclosure and hope that it continues to improve. If after several more weeks, #11-2432 still has all of its replaced feathers and it continues to eat and fly well on its own, then the Center’s staff will discuss plans for the crow’s release.

February 27 update

After another month of living in its outdoor flight pen, American Crow #11-2432 has lost one of its imped tailfeathers. The other imped feathers remain attached; however, some of them are a little tattered.

The crow has not yet begun molting its feathers but it continues to receive bi-weekly feet and feather checks. the Center’s veterinarians want to continue monitoring the crow for the time being and it is currently scheduled to receive a complete blood count next month.

March 19 update

American Crow #11-2432 continues to fly well in one of the Center’s flight pens.  When a bi-weekly foot and feather check was performed by the veterinary team on March 18, Dr. Adam noted that the crow is missing one imped feather on its left wing, otherwise, all other feathers remain intact.  The team would still prefer to see the beginning of a molt cycle before considering release — just to be on the safe side.

April 4 update

American Crow #11-2432 was caught for a bi-weekly foot and feather check on April 2; no changes were observed with the bird’s feathers.  While the crow is able to fly well most times, rehabilitator Suzy has noted that on days with very heavy rain, the crow does have a harder time getting around.  The team will wait for some indication of molting prior to release.

April 27 update

During the latest foot and feather check on April 23, the staff were excited to spot three blood feathers on the American Crow — one on the bird’s right wing, and two on the bird’s tail.  This means that molting has started — and the crow is slowly growing in some brand new feathers of its own.   The staff would like to ensure that all is going well before release, and that the crow has most of its own feathers in by that point.  Another foot and feather check will be performed in two weeks’ time on May 7.

May 9 update

On May 7, the veterinary team caught American Crow #11-2432 for a foot and feather check.  During the last check, the staff noted three blood feathers growing — meaning that the crow started to shed a few of its imped feathers, and was finally growing in its own new set.  This time around, two additional blood feathers were spotted — an additional feather on the right wing, and one on the left wing.

The molting process may be slow, but the staff are pleased to see the crow starting to grow in a new set of feathers.  An additional foot and feather check will take place in two weeks.

Your special donation will help the Center to provide state-of-the-art medical care to this American Crow … and to the 2,600+ other patients the Center will admit this year.  Please help!