The Birds of Glen Helen Raptor Center ~ Wildlife Ambassadors and Friends

By Betty Ross, Glen Helen Raptor Center, Yellow Springs, OH

The Ohio Rehabilitator, Issue 2, 2008

Instead of my usual message I thought it might be a nice change to share an article I wrote for our own newsletter about Glen Helen’s permanent resident raptors, wildlife ambassadors that reach so many people. Big Red, a non-releasable red-tailed hawk, was the first resident at the Raptor Center in 1970. Others quickly joined her, one being Buzzy, a turkey vulture, who delighted visitors for almost thirty years. She was even featured in Ranger Rick magazine with a story about how she visited a school and threw up on the principal’s shoes.. Guess that’s why she didn’t go traveling very often.  Not all of our birds have such strong personalities, but we do become very attached to them. I’m the type who considers my dogs part of the family and I have a tendency to do that with the birds as well. The difference is that they don’t return the affection, unless it’s an occasional misplaced courtship display. We usually feel closer to the birds we handle, as do audiences who meet them up-close. Solo, our bald eagle, who is on display only, is an exception to that. He’s one of our most popular birds for adopting and to visit, partly because eagles are so special, but also because he sometimes communicates quite vocally with visitors.

We are responsible for the birds, so we feel a strong commitment to provide a high quality of life for all of them that spend their lives with us. They live in a beautiful wooded area, are free to move around in their cages, have wild and human visitors to watch, plenty of good food, and except for Solo, live with others. We have a number of mated pairs and quite a few eggs laid each season, as well as other interactions, including some conflicts. Usually, temporarily removing an offender resolved the problem, but one time we had to build a cage within a cage so no one would get hurt. 

Naturally, breeding season causes the most activity, not only for positive relationships, but also for aggressive and defensive behavior. Bo, our female barn owl, begins laying eggs in the winter and continues through the spring, so her mate Ty “protects” her from all of us for quite a long time. Scarlet and Rusty, our red-tailed hawks, pull sticks into their cage for a nest, the barred owls go into their stump with eggs, although we don’t know which one lays them, and even some of our single female hawks produce eggs. Although we don’t allow the eggs to hatch, when the birds go through these nesting behaviors, it means they are not only physically healthy, but feeling comfortable with their living arrangements.

It also means we may have seasonal behavior issues to deal with, but it’s a small price for us to pay to enhance their quality of life. None of them are seriously dangerous, but we do have to be careful at times, and respectful of their strong feet and talons! Varia, a barred owl, was our best example of a “head bopper” through her entire twenty years here.  Marcia and Harrianna, Northern harriers, both had a tendency to attack rakes, but that was preferable to attacking us.  Some birds have different reactions to men and women, a few don’t like hats, several jump on toes if you forget and wear sandals into a cage, and many take advantage of new naturalists during training.

There are over thirty permanent residents living at the Raptor Center right now. Many of them live very long lives; Solo is almost thirty years old, Rusty and Townie are close to twenty, and many others are over ten years old. Losing one is never easy, even when it has had a long, healthy life, and losing one to a predator or disease is really awful. Nothing could be much worse than what we went through when West Nile virus hit in 2002 and three of our own great horned owls, Karma, Hibou, and Jess died.

Many other people besides staff become attached to the birds, especially those who form a connection with an adoption. Every child that comes to the Outdoor Education Center visits the Raptor Center and enjoys a close-up introduction to one of the birds.  Thousands of others visit on their own, or see the birds at special events and scheduled programs. One of my favorite ways to enjoy them, however, is observing them during their quiet times, after a bath, sunning, preening, and relaxing together. You are welcome to come spend a little time with them, too.