I hope you were able to enjoy time with family and friends over the Thanksgiving weekend. During this time of Thanksgiving, the BMW Team is especially grateful for your support. You helped us care for hundreds of native wildlife and give hundreds of students and families the opportunity to engage with our ambassador birds. You are essential in accomplishing our mission of helping people live in harmony with the natural world.

As we look to the future, we invite you to help us meet the challenges and opportunities of 2026. We are again partnering with the Valley Giving Guide, a year-end fundraising platform. It is an online donation page that will be available from December 2nd, Giving Tuesday, until December 31st. We receive 100% of each donation! All online donations will count towards matching funds that VGG is raising for this event. Here is a link to Blue Mountain Wildlife’s donation page: Blue Mountain Wildlife Donate if you can and share that you donate on your social media! Thank you so much for your support!

The old clinic is gone! A small, but mighty remote controlled machine maneuvered the two halves of the double-wide so they could be prepped for the trip to Finley Butte Landfill where the metal will be recycled.

Winnie recruited her friend Dan to take a drone shot of the empty space and future location of the new clinic. Thank you Dan and Winnie!

There were just two admissions this past week. Ring-billed Gull 25-523 had a broken leg and a back injury. The prognosis for recovery was poor and gulls are high risk species for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The bird was euthanized.

We are more hopeful for Northern Pygmy Owl 25-524. At 67 grams, it is one of the tiniest raptors that we see. She(?) has a droopy right wing and a dislocated right scapula. The wing has been immobilized to allow the injury to heal. 

In addition to being very small, these feisty owls are diurnal (hunt during the day), and prey on other birds.  They also appear to have eyes on the back of their head. A handy camouflage mechanism for a small predator.

We were privileged to host 17 students from Long Creek School this past week. That is more than half of the student population!

Red-tailed Hawk 25-519 was admitted with a leg fracture from a gunshot injury. Initially the hawk seemed very alert, but it died during the night. We suspect Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. Test results should arrive next week.

Common Raven 25-520 was also admitted. Ravens are a high risk species for avian influenza. The bird was found in an area where water fowl, primary carriers of influenza, congregate and was very depressed. It had no obvious injuries. Influenza seemed to be the most likely cause for the bird’s condition. To minimize the risk to our resident birds, it was euthanized. Test results for the raven should arrive next week as well.

 The old double-wide that housed the clinic is now in two pieces. I fully expect it to be gone by next week’s newsletter!

It was an exciting week at Blue Mountain Wildlife. A $1,000 donation arrived from PacifiCorp. The generous gift will  help BMW continue helping native wildlife in the coming year.

Two Long-eared Owls were released. The first owl wasted no time in returning to the forest.

The second LEOW was a bit more tentative before realizing he was back home!

Great Horned Owl 25-476 was released at Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, very close to where the adult owl had been found on the ground unable to fly. She was emaciated, but did not have any obvious injuries. We are not sure what happened to her that prevented her from being able to fly and hunt. Perhaps she had been struck by a vehicle. 

The owl quickly left the travel box and headed for a tall tree. A resident Red-tailed Hawk briefly expressed its displeasure at the owl’s presence. After getting her bearings, the owl flew off. I’m sure she was happy be back home.

On Friday, Tricia, Rainy and I traveled to The Vert Auditorium in Pendleton to greet 500 area students as they arrived for a Young Peoples Concert by the Oregon East Symphony. The concert featured Chris Thomas’ Malheur Symphony. The music was inspired by Malheur Wildlife Refuge. Rainy, a Gyrfalcon/Peregrine Falcon hybrid and BMW’s newest education bird, was the perfect greeter!

The time has changed. I hope you were able to enjoy getting the hour back that you lost in the spring. As of today, the old clinic is an empty shell. Isabelle, Kelsi, Winnie and Tricia have worked very hard moving everything to either the temporary clinic or the pod for storage. Both spaces are full. The cages have been moved outside and covered with tarps.

Operations in the temporary clinic are being fine tuned. We have two weeks to move the old clinic/double-wide out and prep the site for arrival of the new clinic. 

Admissions this week included Cedar Waxwing 25-511 with a shoulder injury, Western Screech Owl 25-512 with a head injury and Merlin 25-513 (a small falcon), also with a shoulder injury. All are receiving cage rest and treatment for their injuries. Below are photos of the Waxwing and Merlin.