The New Display Pen is Getting a Roof
Thank You for Your Investment in BMW’s Future
Thank you to Tara Richards, Michele Caron and Dorothy Van Note who have pooled their resources to offer a challenge to BMW supporters. They will match every dollar—up to $15,000—donated to BMW for a study to develop a first-ever model projecting annual post-release population effects directly due to rehabilitation facilities. The model will give the wind industry a scientifically based recommendation on how contributing to raptor rehabilitation directly impacts their mitigation efforts for loss of birds. Thank you to the 23 BMW supporters who donated this past week raising $3,515. That is nearly a quarter of the funds needed to begin the study! Your donation today will help us meet our goal and will be an investment in BMW’s future and the future of raptor populations around the country.
The Week In Review
There are now 66 baby Barn Owls at the Tri-Cities Center. Many are outside in a nest box, although none have fledged yet. Michele sent this short video of two owlets who are eating on there own. They quickly learn to eat cut up mice off a plate, even before their eyes are completely open. Searching for food on the nest floor is a natural behavior for younger Barn Owls. They are looking for food dropped by their older siblings.
American Crow 20-108
On admission, this hatchling crow weighed 36 grams. Five-and-a-half days later, it weighed 143 grams, quadrupling its weight. Baby birds grow like the proverbial weed. It is critically important for them to receive a proper diet. In the case of the Crow, it is being fed a hatchling songbird formula and cut up mice.
Great Horned Owl 20-110 - Metabolic Bone Disease
The saddest case this past week was a downy Great Horned Owl. The owlet was found on the ground by well-meaning people and fed chicken for one week before calling BMW and making arrangements to transport it to Pendleton. Chicken, or any other meat, has no calcium in it.
Raptors typically eat whole animals, including the fur or feathers and bone, ensuring there is plenty of calcium in their diet. 20-110 was severely calcium deficient. His bones were soft and rubbery. An x-ray showed abnormalities in all his joints, indicating they would soon become arthritic. The damage was not reversible and the owlet was euthanized.
Soci-owl Distancing
After nearly two months, the Short-eared Owls are still practicing safe social distancing.
