Friday, July 24, 2009

Unsubscribe | Send this to a friend

In this issue:
• FAMILY NATURE DISCOVERY DAY #2
• AN URGENT REQUEST FOR HELP FEEDING BABIES!

FAMILY NATURE DISCOVERY DAY #2

WHAT: Cascades Raptor Center invites families to participate in an afternoon of Wildlife Hospital play where kids can be a wildlife rehabilitator for the day!

WHEN: Sunday, July 26^th 12:00pm-4:00pm

WHERE: Cascades Raptor Center, 32275 Fox Hollow Road, Eugene

Family Nature Discovery Day

Cascades Raptor Center invites families to take part in our second Family Nature Discovery Day on Sunday, July 26th, between the hours of 12:00 to 4:00 pm.  Kids and their families can become wildlife rehabilitators for the day! Participants will receive a report of an injured stuffed animal to be rescued on CRC’s wooded, hillside property. After rescuing their animal, kids can bring their animal to the wildlife hospital play area for treatment. While the rescued animal recovers, families can visit with the over 60 permanent resident raptors at CRC. After the tour, participants can release their patients back to the wild. You can start with the 12:00 handler talk, if interested, and then stay all afternoon - or come any time in between 12:00 and 4:00.

Activities are recommended for children between the ages of 4-11 and children must be accompanied by an adult. Cost of activities are general admission to CRC (CRC members receive free admission) and a $2 activity charge for participants. If you ride your bike or hike the Ridgeline Trail to CRC your activity fee will be waived!

Save the last Sunday afternoon every month this summer for a CRC Family Nature Discovery Day. Our next day will be on August 30^th and participants can learn "All About Owls."   Hope to see you all!

AN URGENT REQUEST FOR HELP FEEDING BABIES!

Wild barred owl fledglings rasping for dad, lots of baby songbirds fledging and begging, a hairless baby pine squirrel tumbling out of the nest (we put him up in a box and mom found him and took him home!) ... Hummingbirds battle over the trumpet vine while we fight over the ripening thimbleberries. Here we are half-way through summer and the sights and sounds, even smells, of the raptor center are definitely that of summer.  And we’re buried in babies!  We’ve been inundated with orphans this year ... as well as our usual adult caseload - to the tune of having 50 birds on the hospital side at one time.

Late spring and early summer are a very busy but very rewarding time of year in wildlife rehabilitation.  Reuniting young birds with their parents and watching those we cannot renest grow into adulthood is very fulfilling.  However, besides keeping us busy from dawn to dusk, the overwhelming number this year have led to a serious financial shortfall.  Mind you, overall we are doing well and growing, but the economic situation has affected us and the strain on our budget for baby food is a bit scarey!

Feeding the birds is always one of our most significant expenses year-round - as we try to provide a variety of fresh whole food. Our normal food expense is around $28,000 a year and we budgeted $30,000 this year - but we are currently paying out well over $1,000 a WEEK.  For just the birds on live mice, our costs are $100/day.   This will drop, of course, as the youngsters are released, but it’s putting an enormous drain on our resources right now.  Young birds (like teenagers!) easily eat twice what an adult of the same species would eat.  Here is who is behind our food bill:

Barn owls - yikes! - 17 currently going through Mouse University.  Some renested and one placed for education.  Several destined for King Estate Winery to help take care of gophers and mice at this organic winery!

>> More babies ... and how you can help!

Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Send this to a friend

www.eRaptors.org
Cascades Raptor Center
32275 Fox Hollow Rd
Eugene OR 97405 USA

This email was created and delivered using MyMailout