Crows Hollow Wildlife Care

04/11/2026

As we get heavy into “rehab season,” remember a few things:

1) Contact a rehabber before deciding an animal is orphaned. Bunnies, squirrels, birds, 5-6 week old raccoon kits, most start coming out of their dens and nests REALLY small (young) and certainly may be vulnerable for a few days by pets and children. Give them space and observe. If a baby is injured, yes, it may need medical care.

2) Many young animals are NOT with their mothers all the time. Deer and rabbits stay AWAY from their young except short time at night to feed them. This strategy avoids predators knowing the location of their babies.

3) If you notice a squirrel or raccoon denning in a barn, shed,chimney, attic- mom has already been in that den a month or two BEFORE giving birth. Let her finish weaning her young, then when they leave the den, patch and repair entrances. For professional help, we can get you in touch with a local company able to evict and exclude animals and reunite with their young in many cases.

4) THIS IS IMPORTANT: finding a sick or injured wild animal often feels like or is an emergency. Most rehabbers are volunteers and often work FT in order to provide medical care as there are no fees by rehab for the intake of a wild animal. We may not be able to respond immediately.

(YES, we have a lot of costs to provide proper care, housing and nutrition for each animal, so donations are always greatly appreciated, both in dollars and supplies, from basics like used towels and linens, laundry soap, paper towels or items on rehab wish lists)

So…we likely need TWO things from our compassionate citizens trying to find help for a wild animal in need:

1) Know that we are not always able to respond immediately to a call like a dispatch center can do for human emergencies. We do our best to get back to you quickly. Text us photos and/ or video and provide location and description of what you observe! This makes callbacks much easier to give you assistance efficiently.

2) For most small species and birds, we need citizens to capture and transport TO rehab. For more risky animals like herons, eagles, large owls, adult fox, raccoon etc, we may coach you how to contain an animal for rescue or transport.

In the case of the majority of injured wildlife, getting them into a cardboard box or bin, cat or dog vari kennel type crate and COVER, place in dark, quiet location is going to help save their lives until they get to rehab.

*****Don’t hold and pet them and don’t try to feed them. These things can kill an already stressed and injured animal. ******

Be aware of zoonotic diseases like rabies in mammals and use gloves, towels and other non-contact tools when possible.

THANK YOU to the thousands and thousands of citizens each year who find and help our wildlife.

THANK YOU to so many of you also willing to let moms raise their babies or reunite displaced babies once discovered even in inconvenient places.

THANK YOU to the hundreds of thousands of you over the years who help educate your friends and neighbors, who understand the limitations of this largely volunteer effort to provide care to give wildlife a second chance, who give us rehabbers grace when we have to euthanize an animal to end suffering and who support rehab with your time, rescues, donations and above all, the great compassion you show in seeking help, calling and transporting.

THANK YOU THANK YOU!

04/11/2026

This beauty atop a medical building near Riverside hospital.

03/17/2026

01/31/2026

Why do we work SO hard to keep wild babies with their mothers, return,reunite, foster and everything possible to prevent separation in the first place?

Because the nutrition provided by wild parents to their young, especially baby mammals who all require mothers milk, is critical to much more than just their growth, but to their immune health and behavior among other things.

Keep buildings and decks in good repair with barriers, capped chimneys etc. to keep wildlife from rearing young where you don’t want them. Help keep wild families intact and avoid incidental or intentional break up of moms and babies.

Help them grow wild and as healthy as they can be…with the right nutrition nature intends.

She thought she was studying milk.
What she uncovered was a conversation.

In 2008, evolutionary anthropologist Katie Hinde was working in a primate research lab in California, analyzing breast milk from rhesus macaque mothers. She had hundreds of samples and thousands of data points. Everything looked ordinary—until one pattern refused to go away.

Mothers raising sons produced milk richer in fat and protein.
Mothers raising daughters produced a larger volume with different nutrient balances.

It was consistent. Repeatable. And deeply uncomfortable for the scientific consensus.

Colleagues suggested error. Noise. Statistical coincidence.
But Katie trusted the data.

And the data pointed to a radical idea.

Milk is not just nutrition.
It is information.

For decades, biology treated breast milk as simple fuel. Calories in. Growth out. But if milk were only calories, why would it change depending on the s*x of the baby?

Katie kept digging.

Across more than 250 mothers and over 700 sampling events, the story grew more complex. Younger, first-time mothers produced milk with fewer calories but significantly higher levels of cortisol—the stress hormone.

The babies who drank it grew faster.
They were also more alert, more cautious, more anxious.

Milk wasn’t just building bodies.
It was shaping behavior.

Then came the discovery that changed everything.

When a baby nurses, microscopic amounts of saliva flow back into the breast. That saliva carries biological signals about the infant’s immune system. If the baby is getting sick, the mother’s body detects it.

Within hours, the milk changes.

White blood cells surge.
Macrophages multiply.
Targeted antibodies appear.

When the baby recovers, the milk returns to baseline.

This was not coincidence.
It was call and response.

A biological dialogue refined over millions of years. Invisible—until someone thought to listen.

As Katie reviewed existing research, she noticed something unsettling. There were twice as many scientific studies on erectile dysfunction as on breast milk composition.

The first food every human consumes.
The substance that shaped our species.
Largely ignored.

So she did something bold.

She launched a blog with a deliberately provocative name: Mammals Suck Milk.
It exploded. Over a million readers in its first year. Parents. Doctors. Scientists. People asking questions research had skipped.

The discoveries kept coming.

Milk changes by time of day.
Foremilk differs from hindmilk.
Human milk contains over 200 oligosaccharides babies can’t digest—because they exist to feed beneficial gut bacteria.
Every mother’s milk is biologically unique.

In 2017, Katie brought this work to a TED stage. In 2020, it reached a global audience through Netflix’s Babies. Today, at Arizona State University’s Comparative Lactation Lab, she continues reshaping how medicine understands infant development, neonatal care, formula design, and public health.

The implications are staggering.

Milk has been evolving for more than 200 million years—longer than dinosaurs walked the Earth. What we once dismissed as simple nourishment is one of the most sophisticated communication systems biology has ever produced.

Katie Hinde didn’t just study milk.
She revealed that nourishment is intelligence.
A living, responsive system shaping who we become before we ever speak.

All because one scientist refused to accept that half the story was “measurement error.”

Sometimes the biggest revolutions begin by listening to what everyone else ignores.

These stories are created with care, time, and research. If you’d like to help support this work, you can do so

https://buymeacoffee.com/reeceryan

Every coffee helps me keep creating.

01/25/2026

Lots of snow shovelling happening at Crows Hollow today!

Those of you who have rescued animals to Crows Hollow...you can see some of the rehab enclosures, flight aviaries and barns way in the distance, usually not visible in summer with all the trees!

These are the temporary hotels for the recovering animals you have graciously saved.

We say "hotel" because the wildlife need superb accomodations to feel safe in captivity, have the best meals so they can heal and enough space to move as naturally as possible which is the wildlife patient final PT and OT before release.

As for the snow...while the snow creates many challenges for all living things, a lot of our songbirds and small mammals will survive this lengthy extreme cold period now that we have snow.

Snow provides great insulation and windbreak.

Now is a good time to feed birds. Use striped sunflower to deter starlings.
Suet, safflower and sunflower hearts are also high quality foods.

A water source is very important. Whether a dish refilled with fresh water several times or a heated water bowl or bird bath ...water saves lives! Birds can eat snow, but they must use up a ton of energy to heat it, melt it to benefit from it as water. Very hard on their bodies in this extreme cold.

We may see more raptors come in to rehab however. A lot of prey will now be hidden under snow cover.

Frozen ponds, river and streams will prevent eagles from fishing. Snow makes scavenging nearly impossible.

Eagles do easily travel 50-80 miles in a day, and so anyone around open water may see a dozen or more eagles clustered in the same general area.

Call us or your nearest rehabilitator for guidance if you see a hawk, owl or eagle down on the ground and unable or unwilling to move if you approach. It may be feeding on the ground or it may be injured or simply underweight from lack of prey and in need of time in rehab.

For a rehabber near you, check www.owra.org

01/01/2026

A safe and peaceful New Year to all.

12/15/2025

Here is another reminder to sign up for our December Zoom talk being given by OWRA President Barbara Ray on Tuesday December 16th 2025, at 7:30PM. See details below. Monthly Zoom sessions are free for members.

Title: Exceptional Adaptations: From the Peculiar to the Remarkable to the Unimaginable…Designs in Nature You Didn’t Know and a Few You Maybe Wish You Didn’t!

Description: Enjoy an engaging dive into the extraordinary adaptations found in nature!
Together we’ll explore the surprising biology of Ohio’s wildlife—from the porphyrins that make some species glow, to the natural “anti-freeze” that lets wood frogs survive winter in a frozen state. Marvel at the remarkable features of eagles, hawks, and owls that grant them astonishing vision and hearing, and at the metabolic magic of bats as well as their ability to reshape sound.

Ever wonder how opossums manage to reproduce, what “nut wars” really are, or the relationship between marsh hawks and corn cobs and why animals play? We’ll answer these questions and many more as we uncover the subtle designs and hidden abilities that help wildlife survive and thrive.

Bio: Barbara Ray is the Nature Education Coordinator for Dublin Parks. She has been a wildlife mammal and raptor rehabilitator since 1981 and is the co-founder of Crows Hollow Wildlife Care, Emerging Disease and Rabies Vector chair since 2008. Barbara Ray is also the OWRA Board President. Her focus is providing education, consultation and animal management services to the community and facilitating peaceful co-existence with wildlife and the public.

Register today at www.owra.org/events. If you are not currently a member, please consider joining us so you can receive this great benefit of monthly zoom education events.

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving from Crows Hollow

Wishing all a peaceful and blessed day of thanks.

We give thanks to all of you who care and help wildlife in need, support Crows Hollow and give of your time, miles and donated items to make it possible to give so many animals another chance back in the wild. ❤️‍🩹

11/18/2025

A favorite Bateman painting

07/04/2025

🦅 GOOD NEWS: America’s National Bird Thriving in the Buckeye State

😍 Ohio can celebrate a milestone this Independence Day with 964 confirmed active bald eagle nests. 🎉

➡️ More than 1,800 reports from citizen scientists statewide helped complete the 2025 bald eagle nest census. Our staff followed up on these reports and confirmed nest locations in 87 of Ohio’s 88 counties.

➡️ Active nests were counted as those with an incubating eagle, eggs, or eaglets present. Given the high volume of nests, this nest census represents the most complete picture possible of Ohio’s breeding bald eagle population.