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Raptor Chronicles
By Colorado's Oldest Raptor Sanctuary
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Happy Summer, Everyone!
Most of you know that I love opening these messages with a sentence or two about the weather, and this edition will be no different, albeit for two very practical reasons:
First, the GOOD NEWS: Colorado is drought-free, statewide, for the first time since 2019! And rather than being a very fleeting event, this condition of abundant grass, green hills and high rivers looks like it's going to stick around for a while.
The BAD NEWS: we are being invaded by mosquitos! Many have the potential to carry the deadly West Nile virus, which we vaccinate our birds against every year. At the bottom of this edition, you'll see an appeal to help out with the cost of vaccines this year...thank you in advance for any help you can provide us.
The other "condition" we're now faced with, is grass and weeds so thick, they'd choke a goat! We moved to our little patch of heaven in Brighton fifteen years ago (!!) this month, but this is the first time that the prairie seems to be actively trying to kick us out! If you have a riding mower that you'd like to donate, or perhaps loan us for a day, please get in touch with me at ap@usaref.org.
Meanwhile, grab your favorite beverage and fuzzy slippers, and take a two-minute rest to enjoy our video update from Alaska. I hope you enjoy the footage of the growing eagles as much I did...Peter has a marvelous knack for being in the right place at the right time!
Stay cool...more exciting news to come!~Anne Price, President
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In early June, Peter and Anne journeyed to Icy Bay Lodge, located on the Gulf of Alaska, approximately 60 miles west of the town of Yakutat. We're working with the owners and staff to develop a birding, photography, and hiking experience for a limited number of visitors each season, in addition to the outstanding fishing adventures which the lodge is known for.
Situated on the edge of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, (America's largest)the lodge has over 110 square miles of private lands for discovering Alaska's wildlife and primeval beauty. These are some of the most remote, scenic and diverse ecosystems in Alaska, all accessible in Icy Bay. We hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of the some of the inhabitants we observed over four days, with Mount St. Elias keeping watch over all of us.
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Wildcat Mountain Golden Eagles Thriving |
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The two eaglets on Wildcat Mountain are growing quickly and are getting close to the size of their parents. They may LOOK like eagles, but they certainly don't know quite how to act like eagles...yet! As Mom keeps a watchful eye on the rock above, Dad brings lunch back to the nest for the kids. Most raptor Dads work very hard all summer, providing food for the entire family while Mom does the majority of the incubating, brooding and feeding of the young. The eaglets don't seem quite ready to deal with a whole rabbit on their own. It looks like lunch, but "footing", or grabbing the prey with their powerful feet and talons, and tearing it apart all by themselves? They've never done that before...so they stare, turn their heads upside down to get a better look, and hop around trying to figure out how to make a meal of what Dad delivered. You'll see lots of wing-flapping, exercising and general silliness in this video. It's all part of the final stages of maturation and muscle development, as well as the coordination needed for flight. Finally, Mom realizes they still need to be coddled a bit, and tears up the prey to feed them, just as she has since they hatched at the very end of February. Very soon, they'll be able to do the job themselves...eventually! |
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Barely two weeks later, the two young golden eagles in Highlands Ranch have left the nest! They can fly (barely), but they still cannot feed themselves. Their mother is doing everything in her power on this windy day, to entice them to chase her down for the prairie dog (we think) that she's carrying. When you compare the behavior and color of the two offspring on the cliff-top "table" to the adult eagle, the differences are very apparent. The two babies have white on their legs, and are overall very dark. This is very common here in Colorado, where our strong sun and high altitudes quickly fade the color of feathers. Mom is an absolute master of the air, letting it blow her north along the cliff, and then working her way carefully back to her children, trying to get them to chase her in the sky. Peter filmed this cycle multiple times, before Mom finally gave up and decided to feed her children. We believe the female eaglet is on the left; at 5:30 you'll see little brother carefully side-step away from the two females to patiently wait his turn.
In areas with either low prey abundance and/or inexperienced parents, the older eaglet will often kill the younger one, as it competes for all the food and parental care. This is the norm for golden eagle and is called the Cain and Abel syndrome. It's possible that the young male has simply learned to stay away from his sister when she's eating. However, this pair in the HRCA Backcountry are very experienced, having successfully fledged two young in 2017, 2018 and 2019. By 17:17, the female is absolutely stuffed and "feaks", or wipes and cleans her beak on the rock, indicating that she is done eating. But a minute later, she just can't say no when Mom offers her yet another morsel! Finally, at 19:08, the mother brings the leftovers to her son to begin feeding him. She is patient, attentive and very diligent with her care for each eaglet. This video is dedicated to our female golden eagle, "Blondie" who laid infertile eggs every year, from 1990 to 2019. She never had the chance to raise young of her own, but we think she would have been a great Mother.
Contrast this to what the bald eagle mother has to deal with near the bottom of this edition!
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Lots of Other Ways to Help! |
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A Special Anniversary Offer on All Three of Our Books!
Celebrate our 43nd anniversary by purchasing our
three books at this special price!
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Our Online Store is Open!
A new look...click on the image below.
SORRY...OWL PURSES SOLD OUT
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Help Our Book Fly Higher:
Order Today!
Reviews
“A unique book aimed at introducing young and beginning birders to the world of raptors. . . . Creative for certain! Helpful, too.”–Jim Williams, Wingnut Blog, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A very cool new book.”–Doc Kirby, On The Bookshelf
“Bird enthusiasts of all ages will find this book full of educational fun.”–Skipping Stones
“All the essays were well-written and provided lots of easy-to-understand information, which allows the reader to identify many different types of raptors. I also really enjoyed the further reading at the back of the book about the kestrel box. The instructions were clear-cut, and the activity was easy and fun to do.”–Hannah, age thirteen, Kids’ BookBuzz
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As promised, here are the first earrings for 2023! The iconic, secretive and beautiful northern goshawk is the largest of the three North American accipiter species, and all three are found here in Colorado! With their deep red eyes, misty gray bellies, and long tails, these birds are occasionally seen during the fall and winter in Denver, but they prefer to hunt in coniferous forests. The model for the left-hand earring was the female we had for 17 years, donated to us by a falconer after fracturing her left wing. Thanks again to our wonderful partners at Jabebo. Buy them here!
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Help us put another 1,000 eagles on the streets of our great state! Qualified members of REF are entitled to display them on their cars. Put Colorado's first and best environmental plates on YOUR vehicle!
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One of our members sent us this picture of his Cobra with our license plates. Anyone else out there with a classic car wearing our eagle? Send us your image! |
Special thanks to The Kroenke Group & THF Realty for extending our lease and keeping the fee at zero dollars though 2023! Support like this ensures we will make it through these challenging times.
Thanks to our past and future partners, THF Prairie Center Development, L.L.C., THF Prairie Center Investors, L.L.C. and the City of Brighton, for creating the best intersection in Colorado just a minute or two north of our headquarters!
As the new villages grow at Prairie Center, so do the streets with cool names! Check out some of the newest intersections as of October 2021.
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WISH LIST
RIDING LAWN MOWER
Yep, keeping our property mowed in this very wet year is a challenge. If somebody has a riding mower to donate, please contact us. Thank you!
We're still looking for a gently-used, 20-25 foot RV (Class C) that would serve as a mobile office for traveling programs around Colorado and farther away. Or maybe you have an SUV or pickup truck you would like to donate? We can put it to good use! Please give our office a call if you have a vehicle you think we could use!
(303) 680-8500
Thank you!
Raptor Chronicles
in case you missed any issues, we currently have issues dating back to January 2020!
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Limited Edition Eagle Pin |
An exclusive creation for us, this fine pewter pin has been hand painted to let everyone know what you think of America's living national symbol. Available in a very limited edition, while they last. This beautiful pin measures 1 1/8" by 1 1/2". Two clasps keep it firmly attached. $50 each includes shipping. Discounts for multiple purchases. Click here to order.
If you don't wish to use PayPal, then please click here.
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We always enjoy our annual trip up to Dillon, Colorado, to visit with locals and tourists alike before the Sunday night "Movies on the Water". The film shown on June 25th was "How to Train Your Dragon", a movie much-beloved by Anne and her family.
Training a dragon might be easier than training an eagle as it turns out, but you can't teach this kind of comedic timing! Our female bald eagle decided she had an opinion, and chose to share it at the perfect moment. You might want to watch this one a couple of times, just to catch the joke!
Thanks, as always, to the Town of Dillon, Event Manager Matt Lope and his awesome staff!
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Aliens Cause Global Warming: Michael Crichton Speaks |
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"My topic today sounds humorous but unfortunately, I am serious. I am going to argue that extraterrestrials lie behind global warming. Or to speak more precisely, I will argue that a belief in extraterrestrials has paved the way, in a progression of steps, to a belief in global warming.Charting this progression of belief will be my task today.
Let me say at once that I have no desire to discourage anyone from believing in either extraterrestrials or global warming. That would be quite impossible to do. Rather, I want to discuss the history of several widely-publicized beliefs and to point to what I consider an emerging crisis in the whole enterprise of science—namely the increasingly uneasy relationship between hard science and public policy."
~Peter Reshetniak, Director of Special Projects
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Part of the annual health management for all of our raptors requires vaccination against the perpetual threat of West Nile virus every summer. This year, our very wet spring and early summer has produced an epic crop of mosquitoes that are the primary vector of West Nile. At the end of June, the disease was detected in mosquitoes trapped in nearby Boulder County. The only vaccinations available for birds, 24 years after the virus’ first appearance in the US, are those meant for horses. Ongoing studies and trials confirm that vaccinating does confer some immunity to raptors, however, the level of protection varies widely among species and ages of birds.
The cost of our vaccinations this year is $375. We would be very grateful for any help you can provide in meeting this expense. Use the link below below, or call our office at 303-680-8500 with your credit card contribution. Checks may be sent to: REF, PO Box 200400, Denver, Colorado 80220. On your checks, please indicate the funds are for 2023 vaccinations.
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Join the 57 Families Supporting Our Raptor Sanctuary
Help Us Reach 100 Supporting Families!
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Have you signed up for the King Soopers Community Rewards Program yet? Do you have a Loyalty Card and digital account? Just visit https://www.kingsoopers.com/o/store-services/community-rewards , log in and enroll to have REF receive donated funds from King Soopers and Kroger! We'd love to increase the number of families supporting us...please share with your friends and family!
OUR COMMUNITY REWARDS NUMBER IS TF405. Simply log into your account, look for "Community Rewards" on the left hand side, and enter TF405. Our name will appear, and you can link your card to REF. You save on groceries, earn fuel points, and we'll receive a quarterly donation from King Soopers.
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Commerce City Bald Eagles on the 4th of July |
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Peter has been watching the Commerce City bald eagle nest closely this year. It has failed for the past 4 years, but not so this year. Two young eagles fledged about ten days ago, but they keep coming back to the nest to get fed. On some visits the nest and the trees around the nest have no eagles visible, but on the Fourth of July at about noon, Peter was fortunate to encounter this rather scary demonstration of two very aggressive juveniles waiting for their lunch. Compare their table manners to the golden eagles at Wildcat Mountain in the video above. |
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Finding hawks in urban areas is relatively easy. Peter has been reporting on a pair of red-tailed hawks which have been very successful nesting across from his home for several years.This year two B. jamaicensis babies fledged and have been bouncing around and food begging all around the neighborhood near 6th and Holly street in Denver. The photos above and below are courtesy of Chris Marino who is Peter's neighbor and an accomplished photographer, director, producer, and all around creative. Chris has taken lots of great pictures and these are just two in typical urban settings. The video below was taken by Peter as he commuted to the REF office in Brighton. He's been going past this nest pole with basket for more than ten years. It's located at approximately 96th and Chambers and has been vacant all these years. This year, however, Peter was pleasantly surprised by seeing a simple nest constructed within the basket and on the Fourth of July, Peter recorded one downy chick, maybe a week old, being shaded by a parent who was waiting for lunch to be delivered. Don't forget there are numerous Cooper's hawks that are abundant in urban environments as well, but not as easy to find as their larger Buteo cousins.
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Below, a juvenile western red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis calurus.
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Many raptors will take to artificial nesting structures, some more so than others. After years of observing this house in Commerce City with a basket "frame" atop a pole, Peter was shocked to see that a red-tailed hawk had finally moved in. Mom doesn't have a bit of shade in this nest unfortunately, and her very bleached head and UV-worn feathers bear this out. However, her lone baby seems healthy, though he is easily three weeks behind the fledging schedule of most of the other red-tailed hawks we've observed in the area. From Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs, most red-tails fledged during the week of June 19th. But every parent out there knows that kids do things on their own schedules, and this "late" baby will have plenty of summer grasshoppers to practice his hunting skills on. |
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In addition to America, our Facebook followers are found in the following countries:
United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, Pakistan, Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Mexico, Ukraine, Russia, New Zealand,
Australia, Brazil, and France!
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Automatic Monthly Donations: Thanks to everyone who has set up a monthly donation via PayPal. We have people from both coasts, a few states in the middle and in Colorado contributing automatic monthly pledges...thank you!
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REF Staff: Anne Price, President & Curator; Peter Reshetniak, Founder & Director of Special Projects; Savannah Grout, Mews Manager
Docents & Volunteers: Kristy Bortz, Kevin Corwin, Karen Gonzalez, Kim Kistler, Linda Julia, Jennifer McAllister, Denis Murray, Zachary Nastri, Karen Ogle, Anne Price, Jennifer Redmond, Peter Reshetniak, Beverly Rice, Mitch Skinner and Ann Stanz
Docents in Training: Clarissa Cigrand, Robert Mitchell, Zachary Nastri, Peggy Plaus and Mila Ringo
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