Thank You Members for Meeting Blue Mountain Audubon Society’s Challenge in One Week
Donations totaling $1,800 arrived this week, nearly double the $1,000 challenge by Audubon. That means an additional $2,800 to help build new housing for BMW’s Education Ambassadors. The fund now totals $55,800. Thank you for your generous support!
Baby Season is in Full Swing
Baby Season generally starts with owlets. This year was no exception, Great Horned Owls and Western Screech Owls were the first to arrive. The first baby Barn Owls usually arrive in early April. This year it was the third week of May, and they didn’t come from a haystack, but a large shed whose walls had been punctured by a forklift, making them a great place for a cavity nesting Barn Owl to take up residence. The Barn Owls became homeless when the walls were repaired.
There seem to be two reasons for the lack of homeless baby Barn Owls this year. The first is a shortage of hay, which means there were few haystacks available to nest in this spring. The second is the late snow and recent rains have made it very difficult to access and ship the hay that was over-wintered.
The first baby Red-tailed Hawks arrived this past week. One survived when his sibling was killed in a nest fire that occurred the result of his parents nesting on a transformer. The power company didn’t realize there was a problem until responding to a power outage, due to the isolated location of the opera pole.
Non-raptor babies admitted this year include House Finches, American Robins, Brewers Blackbirds, Scrub Jays, Black-billed Magpies, Canada Goose goslings and Mallard ducklings.
Another Busy Week for the Education Team
The team traveled to Camp Elkanah, Emigrant Springs State Park (above) and Buck Creek for Outdoor Schools. Four first grade classes from Rocky Heights Elementary School in Hermiston visited the Pendleton Center. Everyone loved the challenge of the migration game, navigating windows, water, wind turbines, power lines and cars on their journey south for the winter and back north in the spring. Kids have such great imaginations!
