Today the 6th grade science class at Jenkins learned about raptors and raptor adaptations, as well as why raptors-and other wildlife-are important in maintaining the balance of nature. Students enjoyed meeting Handsome, American Kestrel, and Nate, red-tailed hawk, and shared some “wild” stories of their own!
James M. has taken on quite an ambitious Scout merit project-he’s decided to build an outdoor wildlife enclosure! James, like other Scouts working on merit projects, has spent the last several months designing his project, building a work plan and gathering workers, obtaining approval from Scout leaders, and then the challenging work of raising funds to purchase materials to build his project. James and Scout Troop 62 showed up bright and early this morning to begin Phase 1 of his project; digging holes for the posts, and cementing them in. James is taking great care to make sure the posts are level and quite secure. We appreciate the time James, Scott, and the rest of the Troop is putting in to this work, and we’ll keep you posted…..
James and the guys have dug post holes the old-fashioned way; with post-hole diggers! Then they mixed the cement and poured into holes.
Making sure everything is level.
More critters looking at release in the very near future, we’re happy to say! “Hawk Hill” red-tailed hawk is about ready to go, and her family is still there in Calhan. Betsy’s saw-whet owl is getting there, too. And Arlene’s blue jay is going this weekend, if the weather holds up! Flipper, cottontail, is about there as well. Doreen’s red-tailed hawk that showed up immediately following the blizzard a couple of weeks ago is able to fly the length of the flight enclosure, and Jan’s poisoned pigeon will be released this weekend, if the weather is good. By the way, Thank You, Jan, for the donation that will be used to help feed wildlife in rehab! And John’s beautiful male kestrel that the cat brought in several days ago, that we really didn’t expect to last the first night, let alone these past 10 days, is slowly improving and eating on his own, finally. I suspect he had a problem before the cat got to him. So we’ll keep our fingers crossed!
John G.’s kestrel has so far survived the cat …
I hear all year long that these critters are the bane of gardeners everywhere! But you have to admit, they’re pretty special. When Christopher A. of Parker sent these, I just had to get his permission to share them! It seems the cottontails have found a refuge in his back yard, and Christopher caught them at some of their finest moments. Enjoy!
Thank you, Christopher, for sharing!
We’d like to say THANK YOU to Asia and Good Earth Garden Center for their generous donation of a truckload of healthy native perennial plants for in and around the animal enclosures. Because of the wet summer we’ve had and the big snow several days ago, the ground is soft and damp, and with the balmy 60-and 70-degree weather this week, this is the perfect time to plant. We’re hoping for shelter, shade, and habitat that the critters will benefit from while recuperating at EWRC. And thank you Louise for your help and instruction for planting these so they will succeed!
Today is a good day for our Critter of the Month, Blue, a blue jay from Arlene in Colorado Springs that had been mangled by a cat. Blue wasn’t looking so good and I wasn’t expecting he’d make it, for a variety of reasons. Well, that bird is hanging in there, slowly but steadily making progress, and yesterday was moved outside for some exercise, sun, and fresh air. Blue is bouncing around in his pine branches and screaming like blue jays do! Once he can move normally and fly strongly, he will go back to Arlene’s for release. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!! Food cost in rehab= approximately $1.50 per day
