 Summer's End
Well, we survived the Summer o’ Babies, and wanted to extend our sincere appreciation for the help provided by so many of YOU!
We have released all but three of the youngsters - with six barn owls,
six kestrels, and four screech owls going to King Estate Vineyards, an
organic winery just outside Eugene. They had luxury homes built
to our specifications, and put up around the property in places we
thought would make for good headquarters for various territories.
We put the live-prey tested, fully flighted, ready-to-take-on-the-world
youngsters directly into the boxes at the site. This way, the
birds (all cavity nesters) could be released a little less abruptly,
letting them take some time looking out and exploring their new world,
once the shock of the capture, transport and handling was past.
And we hope they are all now doing their bit for integrated pest
management! A local television station, KVAL, did a piece on
these releases, which you can view on our media page at
http://www.eraptors.org/media.htm (a direct link is provided below).
We were able to renest three Coopers hawks, a red-tailed hawk, three
barn owls, and a screech owl. And for those who remember the
adult female kestrel whose wing was broken when her nest tree was hit
by lightening - killing all but one baby and pinning her wing under
part of the tree - she was reunited with her mate up in McMinnville! We
placed one non-releasable kestrel youngster and one barn owl with
friends here in Oregon doing education - and they are both doing very
well. Two Coopers hawks went to falconers for hacking, hunting, and
release. Our oddest intake this summer was a human-imprinted
magpie (not found in western Oregon), who landed on a woman's head
while she was riding her bicycle... he's being placed with a zoo in New
York.
Other barn owls went to a llama farm, a wetlands reclamation site, and
various farms. We also released great horned owls, red-shouldered
hawks, and red-tailed hawks. Remaining in care are a red-tail
youngster who rebroke his leg while going after prey in our large
flight cage - sadly, we’re not sure if it can be re-pinned or fixed at
all but are waiting for the recommendation of a board-certified surgeon
at Oregon Veterinary Referral Associates, who generously donates his
services to the birds; a late barn owl youngster; and a saw-whet owl
baby who came in with a badly broken wing that had to be re-pinned
after the first pin moved out of position ... only time will tell if
that was successful. Often, birds seem to give it their all once
but if that healing is interrupted, any future attempts result in a
non-union.
We are so very, very grateful for our family of supporters who helped
us out with our grocery bills this summer! In the 19 weeks since
the end of April, we’ve spent nearly $15,000 on items not readily
available at your local supermarket: mice, rats, quail, roosters,
rabbits, fish, crickets and mealworms. Some weeks saw our food
bills topping over $1000. We so much appreciate the rallying
around our plea for help feeding all the hungry babies ... We had over
200 responses to our print and e-newsletters, including renewed or new
memberships, some sponsorships, and lots of just plain donations - it
helped a great deal. As did a generous grant from the Kinsman
Foundation. Thank you, all! We couldn't have done it without you!
>> Go to our media page ...
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