“Rebecca is very passionate in the rehabilitation of bald eagles and other raptors,” Craven says. “She helped encourage us to pursue this project. I think it was good for everyone to see that she’s been so successful with Wings of Wonder, and that she has lots of very specific qualifications for this kind of project. She helped motivate us to take this on. We of course don’t want to overshadow the biological significance of raptors. But, from cultural standpoint, there is a lot of concern and interest in eagles. Those people support Rebecca’s enthusiasm, and we want to build on that and continue her legacy.”
MAKING MIGIZI HAPPEN
Championing the Midwest’s first tribal raptor rehabilitation center By Eric Cox America’s first tribal eagle aviary and rehabilitation center east of the Mississippi is perched on the edge of success. And Traverse City’s Higher Art Gallery (see sidebar) is determined to help the fledgling operation, which announced its intention to establish a facility on tribal land in March but has a long way to go — despite having two major players in northern Michigan wildlife preservation in its corner: locally renowned wildlife rehabilitator and educator Rebecca Lessard and the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians (LTBBOI). Lessard and the LTBBOI have partnered to build the raptor sanctuary on tribal land located west of Vanderbilt, near the tip of the mitt. While a raptor aviary and rehabilitation center isn’t unique, it’s certainly special for northern Michigan. There are only about eight such tribally owned facilities in the western United States. This one — the Migizi Aviary and Wings of Wonder Rehabilitation Center — will be the first in the Midwest and East. JOINING FORCES FOR GOOD The connection between the work of Lessard, a biologist with 30 years of raptor rehabilitation work under her belt, and local Native American tribes goes back many years. Members of the LTBBOI and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians — both of the Anishinaabe people — have consistently lead ceremonies honoring Lessard’s release of rehabilitated raptors back into the wild.
The word migizi, in fact, is Anishinaabemowin for eagle. And the bald eagle, in particular, is of special relevance to Native Americans. Migizi, who flies so high and sees so well and is so near the Creator, is considered by the Anishinaabe as a messenger to the Great Spirit, reporting the progress of the Anishinaabe and their adherence or denial of the divine guidance given them. Lessard’s reverence for eagles relects that of the local Native American communities. Now, with barely a few months of retirement under her belt, 67-year-old Lessard is about to embark on a massive project whose foundations were laid long ago in her animal-loving heart. Like many people, Lessard grew up loving her pets, a dog and a cat. But things changed when she was 8 or 9. Out of the blue, her parents surprised her by allowing her to get a small pet turtle at a local pet shop. That little reptile stimulated her young mind. Lessard began devouring library books about animals, which in turn led to hamster and gerbil adoptions and subsequent mazetraining experiments. Horses, too, piqued her interest. She began riding regularly, savoring her time with animals and competing in Western shows. In high school she was on to volunteer work at dog kennels, again soaking up knowledge before engaging in obedience trials and dog shows. It seemed young Rebecca was into all mammals … but not really birds? Nope. “We didn’t even have a bird feeder,” she says, laughing.
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By college, deciding what major to choose was pretty easy: biology. Away at school in Northern Minnesota, Lessard fell in love with the woods and, subsequently, insects. That led to her minor in entomology. Birds still weren’t on her radar. A TURNING POINT Years after college, still working with mammals and other creatures, Lessard was persistently pushed by a veterinarian friend to help rehabilitate a red tail hawk. She declined again and again, but the vet friend insisted. “I knew it was a tremendous opportunity,” she tells Northern Express. “But, my kids were really young at the time, and we were homeschooling. I knew the commitment it would take, and I thought to myself, ‘I know nothing about raptors!’ and, frankly, I was rather afraid of these birds.” Yet, she reluctantly agreed. In 1990, Lessard held the injured hawk for the first time. Like her pet turtle moment, this experience had an equally dramatic effect. “I was absolutely mesmerized by its eyes and its strength,” she said, her voice belying a sincere reverence. “That sense of strength and power — it totally changed my life in that moment. It was absolutely life-changing.” From that moment on, Lessard was hooked. She learned everything she could, earning all the state and federal certifications necessary to handle and care for raptors. “I did training at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, which made me even more curious. I spent time at the Minnesota Raptor Center. They took me under their wing. I was there from sunup to sundown, and they eventually gave me the combination to the back door.
They let me do everything.” After settling in northern Michigan, Lessard convinced her husband to let her construct a large flight pen on their property. He agreed, and they obtained the necessary permits. It would be their service back to the world, the couple reasoned, rehabilitating raptors. They could serve a maximum of five birds annually, they speculated. She founded the nonprofit Wings of Wonder and went to work taking in and caring for injured, sick, and orphaned hawks, eagles, and owls. “Ignorance is bliss,” says Lessard, recalling how naive she’d been to assume she’d limit her annual care to five. “The first year we ended up with 12 birds. Naturally, we built another flight pen.” But, after 10 years, the operation had taken more than it had given. On call for injured birds practically 24/7, the Lessards’ threads were getting a tad bare. “It was draining us pretty substantially financially and really impacting our lives,” she says. “We had birds everywhere. I still can’t believe we did that volume — 30, 50, 80 birds a year. “Life was crazy. It was just insane. After 10 years, I started realizing that this was not how I wanted to live my life.” LEAVING THE NEST Aside from the ceaseless rehabilitation projects and administrative work associated with founding Wings of Wonder, Lessard was still regularly traveled the state educating people on raptors and raptors’ roles in the world. While the education component was a critical part of her mission, it only compounded her work-life imbalance.
