Monday, June 21, 2010

RAPTOR REHAB

Recently we invited the Soarin' Eagle Raptor Rehab to bring some birds to Wing Haven and do a educational event for us. It was so much fun to see these birds up close. We had to call them early this spring to help with a rescue and you will see that at the end of this article. All of these birds that they bring to events are injured badly enough that they can not be released back into the wild. They are then worked with to be used for events like this one.

This is Ruby a Red-tailed Hawk. She was injured and cant see very well so would not be able to hunt for herself.

When she is held up in the air she loves to put out her wings and catch the breezes.

I love this picture of her tail. She is just now getting her adult feathers. The striped ones you see are her youth feathers, then you see the red feathers that make her a Red-tailed Hawk, next you see a white feather that has come in showing she has an albino trace in her. I just loved the way she looked at me as I took this picture.


This is a Red Shouldered Hawk.



It had to have part of its wing removed due to an injury as you can see in this picture.



What a beautiful creature.


This is a Great Horned Owl. I love all the different colors it has in its feathers to help in camouflage its self.



See the way it is acting in this picture.



It was acting that way because it didn't like the feathers that Holly Meyers is holding as she told Native American stories relating to raptors. When she put it away the Owl settled back down.












My kids loved this one. It was a little Eastern Screech Owl named Houdini. This is full size and was so adorable.


Houdini had been caught in the grill of a car after being hit and was pulled from there to rescue it. It is now blind in one eye.


Look how tiny and cute it is.
Early this year Bill and I were on our way home when we say a semi pulled over along I69 near our home. Then we saw the driver sitting in the grass next to a young Red-tailed Hawk. It was clear that the hawk had bad injuries and luckily Bill had recently met Holly Meyers of Soarin' Eagle Raptor Rehab. So we gave her a call and she and her husband David met us on the highway to rescue the hawk.

It was so sad to see it so helpless after being hit by a car while hunting for food along the highway.




As you can see from this picture it's right wing is badly broken.



Here Holly checks the birds injuries while her husband David hold it.


Sadly we found out two days later that this birds injuries were to severe and it had to be put down. Despite the loss of this beautiful bird is was wonderful seeing the rescue and being part of it. All of these people volunteer to do this and what they do is wonderful.

3 comments:

  1. It is hard to think of any of the majestic birds of prey being injured and brought low. It is great that there are people who work at rescuing them. Do some recover enough to be let loose again?

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  2. Yes Carol. They have a really good percentage that are released back into the wild. They recently had a young Bald Eagle (very rare in our area) that injured its wing. On release day he reinjured it and had to be recaptured but two weeks later he was released without any trouble. I love that story.

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  3. Wow. What an interesting event. Thanks for sharing this on the lounge.

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