The Raptor Rescue Society

Super cool GPS work!

Happy Halloween! We consider October to be the Barred owl month, as well get many of them in care. Here’s one we got in a few weeks ago who got hit by a car. It had a severe concussion and is now blind in one eye, but it has recovered from the concussion since then. Next step is to live test it to ensure it can hunt successfully with only one eye Stay safe everyone!

Thank you everyone!!! We are so grateful.

DON'T FORGET TO CUT YOUR STRAPS!

We welcomed this nestling Great-horned Owl in early spring of this year. You can see he has an eye deformity, where one is underdeveloped. Our vet found that he is blind in one eye, but one-eyed owls still have the potential to successfully hunt in the wild. Re-nesting was not an option, so we did the next best thing and put him with our resident foster parents (first photo). You can see the "mom" is very protective of her new "baby". After months of growth, he has been separated into his own flight aviary (second photo). Since he has only one functional eye and has never hunted before, we are currently live testing him. Despite this, he's hunting very successfully!! He will soon be released into the wild where he will fly free for the first time.

This little guy hopped out of his nest a little too early yesterday. We have renested and his parents have been making quite the commotion about it all! Good luck little buddy.

We know some birds who would love some fish, such as salmon, to add variety to their diets. Our fish supplies are running a bit low at the moment. The donated fish can be fresh or frozen, but cannot be freezer burnt. If you or someone you know has any fish to donate please email [email protected] to schedule a time to drop off. Please share this post, and we thank you so much in advance! Denali - a Bald Eagle, photo by Alexandra Goguen

We’d like to thank all who have donated to us, especially in these tougher times. The VIU Resource Management Officer Technology graduating class of 2020 gave us a very generous donation that was originally going towards their graduation. Thank you patrons. It’s very appreciated

Nesting season! Each year we re-nest many babies who somehow manage to fall out of their nests (many causes). Today our team went out to assess - fortunately both babies were healthy and uninjured, and then re-nested with their parents watching closely. Love being able to reunite families! Will add a video of the wonderful tree climber putting them back in the nest. Community coming together - while physical distancing! PS these are Great Horned Owls

We got a red-tailed hawk in that was banded! After submitting the number we found that he was banded in Chilliwack in 2014 and was hatched in 2013. This hawk is 7 years old! Getting a banded bird is exciting because we get data on how far they’ve dispersed, their age etc. This hawk hit a window quite hard and usually when birds hit windows the outcome is grim. It took him weeks to get back on his feet due to a concussion but thankfully he is good to go now! Such a strong hawk

Our sister organization has been posting live videos every day around 1:30pm, and today they focused on us! There will be a Raptor Rescue Society live video on The Raptors Facebook page at least once a week, that is our goal, so please tune in if you can.

Here’s a video to brighten up your news feed during these uncertain times. The Red-tailed Hawk seen in this video had just been released back to where it was found after coming in to us for treatment. She was found on the side of the road and upon examination she was found to have a wound on her chest and one leg. We aren’t exactly sure how these wounds came about but our excellent vet Dr. Ken Langelier stitched her up and after some time to heal she was deemed releasable. After the video, she even reunited with her mate

Happy World Wildlife Day from all of us at The Raptor Rescue Society! What is your favourite wild animal? Pictured below is a juvenile Bald Eagle in care.

One of current patients in care is a Barred Owl, who was unfortunately hit by a car last year. Did you know that Barred Owls are crepuscular? That means they hunt mostly during twilight (that is, periods of dawn and dusk). They can also be active during the day, mostly when raising owlets or on overcast days.

We are so happy to announce that 3 of the Bald Eagles that we’re effected by the poisoning incident this past weekend have been released! We want to thank Dr. Ken Langelier and the staff at VCA Island Animal Hospital for the incredible work they put into treating these eagles so quickly.

We’re very happy we were able to assist in rescuing these Bald Eagles before it was too late. They are being treated by the amazing staff at VCA Island Animal Hospital. The important lesson from this incident is that euthanized animals MUST be disposed of properly. Please help us spread the message so this doesn’t continue to be an issue for scavenging animals like Bald Eagles. https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca//several-bald-eagles-po

This is one of our current patients in care, a Great-Horned Owl. It came in last year after being found stuck in netting in Cobble Hill but was able to be freed. It turned out it was a juvenile so we decided to keep it in care longer to make sure it was able to survive on its own. We put it with two of our resident Great-Horned Owls to act as fosters. We are now preparing it for soft-release. What is a soft release? It is when instead of just releasing it to where it was found (called a hard-release), we gradually release it to the wild. This entails releasing it in a safe spot but still providing it with supplemental food and shelter. This gives the bird a chance to become familiar with the habitat and foraging opportunities. Wish this owl good luck!

We released this beautiful Bald Eagle back to where she was found last week. She originally came in after being found unable to fly and it was determined she had been shot by a pellet gun. After a few weeks of recovery she’s back where she belongs.

This is why glue traps are not a recommended way to deal with pests, other animals can easily become the unintended victim. Hopefully this Red Shouldered Hawk was found and the trap was removed from its body.

Lead poisoning continues to be an issue here on Vancouver Island (and elsewhere). Educating people about the dangers of lead poisoning is incredibly important, there remains a population of hunters who do not realize the harm that lead ammunition causes.

This is an excellent blog post about the benefits of raptors and rodent control, and why it's important to not use chemicals (pesticides, rodenticides) when managing pests.

All about the practice of banding raptors.