Airfield Becomes Clinic for Feathered Fliers

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From the Washington Post:"Meigs Field used to be a small lakefront airport in Chicago. Now it will be hosting smaller fliers.The old airport terminal will be a sanctuary for migrating (and other) birds injured by flying into downtown office buildings, being hit by cars, getting caught in fishing lines or other mishaps.Starting Saturday, the terminal will become a bird hospital run by the Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which treats injured birds and other wildlife in its suburban Chicago facility. The hospital will be part of a nature reserve the Chicago Park District plans to open on Northerly Island, the land jutting out into Lake Michigan where Meigs Field is located."We treated about 600 birds last year who were injured in the city, but there are probably many who are going untreated because people aren't able to drive out to the suburbs," said rehabilitation center founder and director Dawn Keller. "With a lot of injuries, timing is critical. If they run into a building they have brain swelling, and getting the medicine they need quickly greatly increases their chances for survival.""