Members Newsletter January 2004

The Editors Page

Firstly I would like to say thanks to Helen Tarbox for all the work she has done on previous newsletters as editor. My name is Dave Blows and I have been given the hopefully enjoyable task of new editor of the newsletter. I have been told I will get help if needed from Liz and Pat, I might hold them to that.

I have been a volunteer at the Raptor Foundation for just over a year and you will find me working most Saturdays. You may have seen a couple of articles in previous newsletters written by me. It seems to be the same people providing pieces for the newsletter so it would be nice to hear from other members. You may have visited the centre or keep your own birds which you might like to write about. Come on put pen to paper and write.

Dave Blows
Newsletter Editor

Centre News

This time always seems to creep up on me very quickly, surely I was typing for the last issue only yesterday! There has been quite a bit of movement within The Raptor Foundation, not only with the birds but with people as well. You might notice that we have a new Editor, Dave Blows. He has taken over the undaunting task of putting this newsletter together. Helen, our previous editor has resigned due to other commitments, but she is not getting away that easily. Helen and husband Jimmy are coordinators of the Lincoln Friends of the Raptor Foundation group, and can still be seen at weekends out and about with their birds at local events. Our thanks to Helen for all her efforts in putting together the past newsletters; I hope you still have hair left!

Another new face at the center, is Martyn Baynes who has taken over as head falconer and assisting in the running of the center when I am away. Young David Jones has also joined the falconry team full time.

Here at the Centre people have learnt not to stand still, you might get moved or asked to do a job. We have also been working hard redesigning the flowerbeds. Why is it weeds grow faster than plants? Moira and Eric have been a great help, especially with the courtyard area. Moira's knowledge of plants is unbelievable, so there are coloured plants for all seasons, there are also smelly plants to combat Hensbys. If you have not been along to see not only the courtyard but also the new building with our clocks, its well worth a visit.

As with always at this time of the year, you look back at what was achieved last year and how can one improve on them this year. Our twilight flying has most definitely been very popular and we shall be continuing this year, keep an eye on the web page any news or events will be posted there.

Anyone wishing to help out at any of the outdoor shows if they contact the center there is a current list of shows that we shall be attending. Do not forget that we have a site at Scottsdale's Garden Centre, I am sure that Mo & Peter Harding will be only to happy to see new faces.

At long last our accommodation units are finished and enquiries are coming in, so if you do have family that are coming down and you cannot put them up, remember they are here.

The tearoom has been taken over, (one less headache for me) and we wish Chris and Elaine every success in their new venture. Sunday lunches will be served along with a few new dishes.

Raptor Crafts that moved in, in October are on the move, they have taken over the last 2 units, the old gift shop and my office. (They have found me some corner to go and hide). They should be fully up and running by the end of February. A great place to find that unusual gift.

We shall be holding a members BBQ around about June time, so try and keep your weekends free to come along.

Has anybody any ideas as to what the staff and myself can do as a special fund raising event this year, all ideas welcomed. Last year was the parachute jump!

On a different note, we have been contacted by a Belgium Ornathorigist group for any surplus female European Eagle Owls to be used in a breed and release programme over there. We are still in the early stages of planning, but we shall let you know in the next newsletter.

EAGLES AND VULTURE have landed at the Foundation, it is now official the birds from the Humphries court case are finally ours. This has been long awaited again my thanks to all those that were involved in the early stages and off course my thanks to those that are still involved now. It does mean that the edition of these birds to the Foundation's collection makes it very exclusive.

Hospital news

The last few months have seen a decrease on inmates than past years, is that a good sign I say to myself?

We have had:

Also we have a Buzzard in the hacking pen until later this year, as it needs to moult in new primaries.

NEW ARRIVALS

The latest addition and attraction at the Raptor Foundation are a pair of Bald Eagles named Bonny and Clyde. They are both about 10 years old. When they arrived at the centre in November they were a little afraid of people because they had had little contact with them. This is improving as the days and weeks go by and hopefully they will soon feel at home.

Eagles are part of the Accipitridae family, which includes hawks, kites and old world vultures. The bald eagle is split into two subspecies. The southern bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus is found from Texas and Baja California to South Carolina and Florida. The northern bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus alascanus, is found in the entire northern continent. One of the largest numbers of bald eagles can be found in Alaska, with the northern bald eagle being slightly larger than the southern bald eagle.

Newly hatched bald eagles are light grey in colour, but turn dark brown before leaving the nest at about 12 weeks old. Bald eagles will develop their distinctive blackish-brown back and breast, white head and tail and yellow beak and feet when they reach maturity at about 4 or 5 years old. The female bald eagle is approx. 3 feet long with a wing span of 7 to 8 feet and the male bald eagle is approx. 2.5 feet long with a wing span of 6 to 7 feet. The average weight is between 10 and 15 pounds with the female being the larger.

In the wild the average lifespan is between fifteen and thirty years, but this can be longer in captivity. Bald eagles tend to live near open water like lakes and rivers, as their prime source of food is fish, although they will eat small animals like ducks, rabbits and snakes. When catching a fish there talons can produce approx. 1000 pounds of pressure per square inch in each foot this enables them to catch and carry off food up to half there own body weight.

Once paired bald eagles will stay together for life, or until one dies. The surviving bald eagle will not hesitate to accept a new mate. They will build a nest called an eyrie at the top of tall trees and use the same nest year after year. Some nests can reach ten feet wide and weigh several tons. Once the nest is complete the female will lay between 1 and 3 eggs annually and these will take about 35 days incubation before hatching. The population of bald eagles has gone from an estimated 300,000 in the 1700's down to less than 500 pairs in the 1960's, but thankfully this is now on the increase and there is an estimated 65,000 bald eagles in the wild.

By Dave Blows (Editor & Volunteer)

This article is written not as the Editor of the Raptor Foundation Newsletter but as the former Editor.

I have enjoyed the time I have spent as Editor and am very grateful to those members who have sent articles in for contribution. However time marches on and after I had pulled together the previous newsletter I felt I couldn't continue and decided it was time to let someone else have a go at Editor.

Even though I have resigned as Editor I am still actively involved in the fund raising for The Friends of The Raptor Foundation and during 2003 the Lincoln team attended 24 events.

If you cast your mind back to the last newsletter that was sent out in October 2003 you will recall that I had included a caption competition. I have good news, I received a grand total of 3 entries (2 of which were from the same person)! The captions were:
Are You My Daddy?
Let it share my bed? Not likely!!
Adopt it? What me?

My favourite caption was 'Let it share my bed? Not likely?'

This caption was sent in by Vera Stubbings of Sawston, so congratulations and your prize is on it's way to you.

I wish Dave all the best in the position of Editor and I hope that members will continue to support the newsletter.

Best wishes
Helen Tarbox

Love of Barn Owls

I started working at the Raptor Foundation in May three years ago when I was 13 years old. The first birds I worked with were the barn owls. A year after I began working at the centre I told Liz that I had enough room in my garden for an aviary if she needed me to take a bird off her hand to train. Shortly afterwards Liz asked me to take Ruddles. Ruddles was a 7 year old barn owl which kept fighting with the others. I built him an aviary, which is big enough to house a number of small birds, so he had a lot of space to move around. The day I took him home I was so excited I played with him all night until it was dark. He was already trained to fly but he was very nervous and it took him about a week to adjust.

Over the last 2 years I have formed a tight bond with Ruddles, he knows me and whenever he sees me he gives me this look, so I know he recognises me, no matter what anybody says. If someone else fly's him he always keeps one eye on me, he is my baby boy. He is a very good looking bird, feather perfect. He's got a perfectly clean white breast and a perfect heart shaped facial disk His good condition is mostly down to a healthy diet of chicks, mice, hamster and rat.

Every night after school I come home and fly him. I fly him on a creance at home, this is a long piece of string, which is tied to the birds swivel, and it is latin for trust. I don't free fly him at home because there are too many distractions, such as traffic. If he ever flew away I would be heart broken.

Ruddles is a very sweet barn owl and he loves to have a bath. He does it when know one is around. I watch him from my bedroom window first he sits on the edge of the bath, and then he jumps in fluffs himself up and splashes around. It's hilarious.

When it gets to spring I feel Ruddles gets lonely. Although barn owls are solitary birds during the mating season they do form a tight bond with their mate. I talked to Liz about getting a friend for Ruddles and she said I could take Ramsey home. Ramsey was brought into the centre by a man who felt we could give him a better life. When I got Ramsey he had no idea how to sit on the glove and had never been trained to fly. I was told he would never fly, but I tried all the same. After 2 weeks I had him sitting and eating off the glove. I have had him for 2 months and he now fly's for legs and wings. All this took me a week, he is now as good as Ruddles and comes to the centre with me on Sundays and flies in the displays.

When I first introduced Ramsey to Ruddles. Ruddles wasn't happy. All Ramsey wanted to do was preen him, but Ruddles attacked him. After 3 weeks I began to loose hope that Ruddles would ever accept poor old Ramsey. Over the next week I began to see changes in Ruddles, he no longer jumped on Ramsey and Ramsey was able to fly around the aviary without fear of attack. Now I don't have to separate them at feeding time and they sit quite happily together.

This may sound quite easy to do, looking after a pair of barn owls, but it isn't. It takes a big chunk of my life. I can't be as care free as I used to be. When all my friends go out I can't always go because I have to make sure I am here to look after the birds. I make it my priority to have the birds out at least one and a half hours a day, and in the summer this is longer. No matter what the weather I still go out and give them attention. It can be very disheartening especially when it's freezing cold and the bird refuses to fly. I still enjoy being with them it's a great experience which none of my school friends can have. That's the reward, people always say to me why do you work for free, my answer is I've got 2 beautiful birds, that's payment in itself.

By Lizzie Hagger (Volunteer)

As you may recall from the last newsletter a team of volunteers from RAF Wyton offered their services and spent a couple of days building, painting and concreting aviaries. Below is a picture of the team from Harrier IPT and ARC IPT that was not available when the last newsletter went to print.