Feathers and Friends

In a corner |booth at a local fast-food restaurant, Ann and Pierre Bradshaw interrupt then dinner to do some business. A woman hag brought the couple a baby blue jay in a Cardboard box.

The Bradshaws run On The Wing Again, a three-year-old outfit that rescues and rehabilitates injured birds. After a car hits a bird or ^ bird hits a building, whether it’s a! majestic great horned owl or a french-fiy-eating pigeon, the Bradshaws take it in. With the help of three local veterinarians, who set bones pro bono, On The Wing Again took care of 748 birds last year and presented some 30 educational programs in association with the Dallas Nature Center and the Dallas County Audubon Society.

The Bradshaws’ avian passion not only interrupts meals, but is now running them out of their two-story Oak Cliff house. Their den, sun porch, half of their living room and their whole back yard are filled with birds (among them a white pelican named Pocket), each one squawking its lungs out, waiting until it’s ready to fly.

“Most of our neighbors have fighting roosters and pit bulls, so we have a truce,” Ann says.

On The Wing Again will conduct a seminar June 12 called “Avian Rehabilitation Training” for anyone interested in becoming a licensed “rehabber” or simply volunteering. (“The birds do not support us,” says Ann. “We support the birds.”) Call them at 946-7265. The Audubon hurt-bird hot line is 283-5334.