June 22, 2009
The Raptor House Rehab Center has been very busy with the baby season. Another successful year hacking baby barn owl out at the Benton City hack site. A total of 23 barn owls came from the Yakima Valley. When just about ready to go the young are banded by Howard Brower of US Fish and Wildlife. Not only are baby barn owls a part of the hack site, other raptors such as Red-tailed Hawks, Swainsons Hawks and American Kestrels are hacked out. This is an affective means of raising young birds without the cause of mental damages associated with human imprinting. The hack site has many different kinds of raptor that hunt the fields around for the large rodent and ground squirrel population. The Barn Owls have had fostering parents that make frequent visits to the hack boxes by leaving brown mice and voles for the young. For the past three years a Swainsons pair has also adopted caring for the Swainsons chicks in the hack boxes. A great deal of thanks goes to Michelle and Laurel for their hard work at keeping all of those hungry little mouths fed and another successful year with the Benton City Hawk Site.
Meaning of "Hacking Out" - Man made boxes are put on poles that are enclosed to put the young into. They are fed in this box, at a certain age the box is opened up to allow the young to test their abilities on a ledge or the top of the box and neighboring trees. This allows for the young birds to grow up without the chance of human imprinting (when and animals recognizes a human as a parent or possible mate). They learn the skills of hunting and recognize the box as a place to get food when unsuccessful in the beginning stages of learning the skills to hunt on their own.
2009 Annual Kestrel Festival, June 27, 2009, 10 am - 5 pm - The Kestrel Festival is a fundraiser event scheduled for the Raptor House Rehab Center at Kestrel Vintners Winery in Prosser. We will have the educational display raptors and display animals on staff for the public to learn all about the importance of wildlife and education. Merlot the centers educational American Kestrel will show off his beautiful wings in flight demonstrations along with Black Jack an adult Harris Hawk. Flight demonstrations will be performed through out the day. Bring the family, this is a family event and don't forget the camera. A time to get the up close and personal photos of some of the most amazing raptors in North America.
Almost daily we are receiving new admissions to the center. Yesterday we received 8 more baby mallard ducklings only a couple of days old and a sparrow. The previous three mallards along with the three Canada goslings have finally graduated to the pond. They are very pleased with the new surroundings and are getting along well with the other ducks on the pond. The White Pelican has another week before he can go to the pond. The pelican was the only one out of a total of 20 that were illegally shot on the Yakima Reservation. Needless to say, this was a nasty mess for all of the biologist and enforcement agents to deal with. Dr. Ken Lust, DVM and Dr. Christine Ramsey, DVM and I radiographed three of the pelicans, two dead, and a bittern. This was an unpleasant job for all involved. We were able to rule that the animals were indeed poached. If anyone would happen to have any whole bodied fish to donate, it would be greatly appreciated. The pelican eats 3-5 lbs of fish a day.
If you have not yet seen the Mid Columbia Magazine, the Raptor House Rehab Center is featured in the magazine. It talks about Kestrels and Barn Owls as a natural way to control troublesome rodents, birds and insects in farming. The pictures are of some of Blue Mountain Wildlife's educational birds and display birds.