Above: Wingmasters will be bringing raptors back to the Library next week, including owls (though perhaps not the species pictured above). (promotional photo from past Facebook posts)
Next week, the Southborough Library will welcome back raptor rehabilitators, Wingmasters, to teach kids about Birds of Prey.
The live animal program is best suited for kids ages 6+ but open to all.
The program will give children a chance to see live birds up close:
Birds of prey are also known as raptors, and they are hunting birds characterized by hooked beaks and powerful grabbing feet armed with sharp talons. Raptors can also boast the best eyesight and the sharpest hearing in the animal kingdom. Raptors include hawks, falcons and owls, and this presentation, which incorporates 5 live birds of prey, all native to New England, gives an overview of these different categories. The program is designed to explain predation, the birds’ place at the top of the food web, their different hunting adaptations and their status in a rapidly changing world.
Because many birds of prey are declining in number, this presentation also features one or more of the endangered raptors that WINGMASTERS cares for, and explains why these species face an uncertain future.
The presentation will be held on the Library’s main floor on Tuesday, August 13th from 11:00 am to noon.
Registration is not required for the program funded by The Friends of the Southborough Library.
Wingmasters is run by two licensed raptor rehabilitators, Jim Parks and Julie Collier. Their website explains why they do what they do:
Our objective is to provide a raptor with whatever care is necessary to restore it to good health and then to return it to the wild.
A wildlife rehabilitator might be defined as a person who restores a sick or injured wild animal to a healthy condition. It could be assumed from this definition that rehabilitation involves medical treatment of some type, from medication to physical therapy. Yet many of the raptors Jim and I care for require little or no medical assistance. Every spring and summer we end up with several young birds of prey that have become orphaned or homeless, usually both. Some are tiny babies when their nest tree is cut down or their nest is blown apart by a storm. Many survive the disaster uninjured (Baby birds in general are lightweight and wrapped in a protective coat of down, so if they’re ejected from their nest by an accident they tend to bounce unhurt to the ground.) and our task then is to raise these babies to healthy adulthood with as little human interference as possible. . .
Expenses incurred are our responsibility. Jim and I have solved the problem of supporting our rehab efforts by giving educational programs with nonreleasable birds of prey, raptors left with permanent handicaps. This work pays for a roof over our heads, the vans we drive to programs, the birds’ caging and their food. It does not pay for a retirement fund, and we are well aware that we will have to keep working until we fall over. On the other hand, most people retire so they can finally do what they really want. We’re doing what we really want right now.
On Monday, the wildlife educators held a program for all ages in Spencer on Monday. Local cable posted photos to Facebook with a description that detailed the visitors as having included owls, a red tail hawk and a falcon. You can check out the post below:
