Last summer while David Mitro was brushing the influent trough at the Kewaunee (Ill.) Wastewater Treatment Plant, something colorful caught his eye.
This male ring-necked pheasant appeared seemingly from nowhere — no pheasant-friendly habitat surrounds the plant, an activated sludge facility that serves a city of 12,000 residents.
“We think the pheasant was nesting around our holding lagoon, which contains 32 million gallons,” says Mitro, a maintenance assistant with a Class 4 wastewater operator license. “It was very unusual for one to be around. He followed me around for a couple of days while I was working. He seemed interested in what I was doing. He stayed for about three days and then he was gone. He never came back, and I missed seeing him.”
