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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsRobert Vallières’ path from wounded Army soldier to raptor rehabilitator began with a single Peregrine Falcon encounter and grew into a way of meeting other veterans face to face. Watching birds, monitoring nests, caring for injured raptors and bringing nonreleasable birds to veterans’ facilities gave him purpose and a language for discussing his own difficulties.
The account comes from Purbita Saha and Tony Luong’s Audubon feature published September 22, 2017. It describes Vallières at that time; it does not establish his current health, work or the current availability of any program, and it does not claim that birding or raptor rehabilitation treats post-traumatic stress disorder.
The injury that changed Vallières’ life
In October 1990, Vallières was 28 and serving with the U.S. Army during the Persian Gulf War. While riding in a truck on a mission to fortify a foxhole in the Arabian Desert, he was struck by a heavy beam. The feature describes severe head injuries and brain swelling, followed by emergency evacuation, treatment aboard the Navy hospital ship Comfort and care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Returning to Concord, New Hampshire, did not end the consequences of the injury. The profile reports continuing physical and readjustment problems. Vallières said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and experienced depression and anger. Those are details about his experience as reported in the 2017 story, not a description of every veteran’s response to combat or injury.
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The central question in his story is not how a bird replaced medical care. Rather, it is how an absorbing activity and contact with other people helped him build a life around experiences that remained difficult.
A Peregrine Falcon gave him a way back into the world
After returning home, Vallières took a birding trip in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. During the outing he watched a Peregrine Falcon take a Northern Flicker. The scene was immediate, dramatic and close enough to hold his attention completely. “I was glued,” Vallières says. “I had just come back from war.”
That observation became the starting point for what the feature calls his birding obsession. Birding offered a task that demanded concentration without requiring him to explain himself first: identify a species, follow its movement, notice habitat and wait for the next event. The activity also put him outdoors and among people who shared an interest that was separate from his military identity.
Over time, the pleasure of watching birds became a practical commitment. Vallières began monitoring raptor nests with New Hampshire Audubon, keeping track of American Kestrels, Peregrine Falcons and Bald Eagles. Nest monitoring is fundamentally an observation role; it is different from taking an injured wild bird into care. The profile does not list a formal credential or a specific training course for his monitoring work.
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From watching nests to rehabilitating raptors
Vallières later worked with raptors at Wings of Dawn. There he learned how to care for birds that could not be returned to the wild and how to train some of them for educational appearances. A bird may be permanently grounded because of a wing injury or another condition that makes release unsafe. In those cases, rehabilitation can shift from preparing an animal for release to providing appropriate lifelong care and a controlled role in public education.
The work required him to move from the distance of a birding scope to the responsibilities of a caretaker. He had to understand a bird’s behavior, recognize its limits and handle it in a way that protected both the animal and the people nearby. The feature mentions a protective handling glove, but it is descriptive rather than a step-by-step handling manual. Equipment by itself does not make raptor handling safe; training, authorization and an organization’s protocols matter.
His relationship with the birds also changed how he interpreted setbacks. “They keep my defeats in perspective,” he says. A bird’s recovery, adaptation or continued survival did not erase his injuries, but it gave him a visible reminder that a damaged body can still have a meaningful place in the world.
How the work became veteran outreach
Vallières eventually brought rehabilitation birds and his own story to the New Hampshire Veterans Home and Manchester VA Medical Center. These visits were educational and conversational, not presented as clinical treatment sessions. He introduced veterans to birds that had survived injuries and could no longer be released, then answered questions and talked about his experiences.
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The Great Horned Owl visit
One of the feature’s most vivid scenes involves a Great Horned Owl with a wing injury that left it permanently grounded. When someone asked what the owl was worth, Vallières replied, “I can’t put a value on it.” The answer captures the difference between a market price and the value of a life that has become a teacher, a source of attention and a point of connection.
The owl gave veterans something concrete to look at while they spoke. Questions about its injury, behavior and survival could lead naturally to memories of birds, service or periods when life changed unexpectedly. The profile describes one session attended by 15 seniors; that number belongs to the scene in the 2017 article, not to a measure of the program’s overall reach.
Conversations at the Manchester VA Medical Center
At the Manchester VA Medical Center, recreational therapist Laura Shannon observed that Vallières’ openness made it easier for other veterans to acknowledge their own struggles. “It’s not always cool in military culture to show your weakness,” she says. “But Robert enables others” by baring his struggles.
His role was therefore broader than displaying an animal. He modeled a way to speak about disability, anger, fear and recovery without reducing a veteran to a diagnosis. The bird supplied a shared subject; his willingness to discuss his past supplied permission for others to participate.
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Why nature and peer contact mattered in this account
Stephanie Westlund, described in the feature as a post-conflict recovery expert and author, connects two elements of Vallières’ experience: close attention to nature and contact with other veterans. “Intimate contact with nature, as well as social contact with other veterans, help to imbue life with new or remembered meaning,” Westlund adds.
That observation explains the structure of Vallières’ outreach. A visit combined an encounter with a living animal, a lesson about adaptation and a room full of people who understood military life. The combination could make conversation less forced than a formal request to discuss trauma. It also allowed participants to choose how much to disclose.
P.J. Audett, a veteran who attended one of the sessions, described the effect in personal rather than clinical terms: “Robert’s talks bring me back to that peaceful life,” he says. “I wish there were more programs like his.” The statement shows that attendees experienced the visits as meaningful, but it is not evidence of a measured treatment outcome.
The stages of Vallières’ path
| Period or setting | What the feature reports | Role of birds | What should not be inferred |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 1990, Arabian Desert | A heavy beam struck the 28-year-old soldier during a mission; he received emergency evacuation and later treatment aboard Comfort and at Walter Reed. | None yet; this is the injury and military-service context. | The article is not a medical case study or a current account of his health. |
| After discharge in Concord, New Hampshire | He dealt with physical and psychological difficulties, including PTSD, depression and anger as he described them in the story. | Birding had not yet become his central activity. | His experience cannot be generalized to all veterans. |
| White Mountains birding trip | He watched a Peregrine Falcon take a Northern Flicker and became intensely interested in birds. | A focused encounter that helped spark his birding commitment. | The story does not call the encounter a treatment. |
| New Hampshire Audubon | He monitored nests involving American Kestrels, Peregrine Falcons and Bald Eagles. | Observation, documentation and learning in the field. | Nest monitoring is not the same as authorized wildlife rehabilitation. |
| Wings of Dawn | He worked with raptors and learned to train unreleasable birds as educational ambassadors. | Hands-on care and public education under an organization’s practices. | The feature does not provide a universal training pathway or legal guide. |
| New Hampshire Veterans Home and Manchester VA Medical Center | He brought ambassador birds, including a permanently grounded Great Horned Owl, and spoke with veterans. | A shared focus for questions, memories and peer connection. | The visits are described as outreach, not clinical PTSD care. |
Birding, nest monitoring, rehabilitation and outreach are different activities
Readers who want to follow a similar interest should separate four levels of participation. They involve different responsibilities and should not be treated as interchangeable.
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| Activity | Typical emphasis | Relationship to Vallières’ story | Practical boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birding | Finding and observing wild birds with optics, field guides or an app. | The White Mountains encounter began his sustained interest. | Observe wildlife without approaching, feeding or disturbing it. |
| Raptor-nest monitoring | Recording nesting activity from an appropriate distance, often through a conservation group. | He monitored kestrel, Peregrine Falcon and Bald Eagle nests with New Hampshire Audubon. | Follow the group’s seasonal closures, access rules and reporting procedures. |
| Wildlife rehabilitation | Providing care for injured or orphaned wildlife through a qualified facility. | He later worked with raptors at Wings of Dawn. | Do not pick up or attempt to treat a raptor on your own; contact a licensed rehabilitator. |
| Ambassador-bird outreach | Using nonreleasable animals for controlled education and conversation. | He learned to train unreleasable birds and brought them to veterans’ facilities. | Animal welfare, handler training, venue rules and supervision come before a public visit. |
His recovery also included drawing and writing
Raptor work was one part of a wider rebuilding process. The feature says Vallières took drawing lessons and used drawing and bird observation as ways to focus his attention. “That’s when I don’t think about being a disabled veteran,” he says. Drawing did not deny his disability; it gave him an activity in which the label was not the only thing determining what happened next.
The article also reports that he co-wrote a memoir titled Wounded Warriors. Because the profile is from 2017 and does not establish current publication or availability details, readers should verify any edition through a library or bookseller rather than assuming that a current listing exists.
What this story does—and does not—show
It shows a personal route to purpose
Vallières’ sequence is specific: a combat injury, a difficult return, an absorbing wildlife encounter, increasingly skilled work with raptors and deliberate contact with other veterans. The birds gave him subjects to study, responsibilities to meet and a way to enter conversations that might otherwise feel exposed.
It does not prove a PTSD treatment
The 2017 feature contains no clinical trial, outcome scale or comparison group. It does not establish that birding or rehabilitation treats PTSD, depression or anger. Nature-based activities may be meaningful alongside professional care and peer support, but a person seeking help for trauma symptoms should use qualified medical or mental-health services. The article’s value is its account of one veteran’s coping and community-building, not a medical prescription.
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It is not a current profile
The source describes events and perspectives available to the authors in 2017. It does not confirm Vallières’ present health, employment, relationship with Wings of Dawn or New Hampshire Audubon, or the current operation of visits at either veterans’ facility. Those details would require a current statement from the people or organizations involved.
Why the story remains compelling
Vallières did not simply discover a hobby and keep it private. He converted attention into responsibility: first watching, then monitoring, then caring for birds that could not return to the wild, and finally using those animals to open conversations with people carrying their own burdens. His credibility with veterans came partly from expertise with raptors and partly from refusing to hide the hard parts of his own history.
That combination is why the feature’s most important image is not a spectacular flight. It is a grounded owl, still capable of teaching, and a veteran willing to stand beside it and explain that worth is not erased by permanent injury.
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