RICHWOOD, Texas—The sounds of wings beating and birds chirping resonate throughout cages at Sheree Etie’s bird rehabilitation facility outside Richwood.

Etie is a licensed bird rehabber who works with 300 to 400 birds a year. One bird, however, stands out from the rest. It returns every year for a check-up.

Chickie Baby is a yellow-crowned night-heron Etie rescued along with two of his siblings from a tree that had been cut down.

“I try not to name them,” Etie said. “But some have such personalities.”

Chickie Baby was one of the birds whose personality begged for a name.

“He is a very special bird,” she said.

After spending four months at the facility, Chickie Baby was released and Etie said she did not know if she would ever see him again.

The next spring, however, Chickie Baby returned, and he brought a wife with him, she said.

Now 5 years old, Chickie Baby and his wife still return every March to build their nest above Etie’s bedroom window, she said. And she lays out the welcome mat, feeding him dog food while he’s there, she said.

“Sheree was his mother because he didn’t have one,” fellow rehabber Cecilia McNeil said. “He’s coming home to see his mother.”

Etie rarely knows what happens to the birds she sets free, but Chickie Baby’s return every year fills her with a sense of accomplishment.

“I know what I do is a good thing, and it works,” she said.

Because humans often are the reason birds need rehabilitation, it is only fitting that humans solve the problem, Etie said.

A lot of thought and work are put into rehabilitating birds, and because Etie has been rehabilitating them for 11 years, she knows all of the ins and outs.

One of the most important things about rehabbing is not allowing the birds to become imprinted or lead to think they are humans, Etie said.

“It screws them up, because they will not be accepted by other birds,” she said.

To keep birds from becoming imprinted, Etie swaps birds with other rehabbers to make sure each rehabilitated bird has another of its own species nearby. If she is unable to find another bird, she will place a mirror in their cage so they can see their reflection.

“If we don’t do this, they will not have a good life,” she said.