 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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