I recently took a trip down to Eugene, Oregon and visited the Cascades Raptor Center. We met a Great Horned Owl named Lorax, very beautiful and intense, an American Kestrel named Puck, who was quite a character and my favorite Ki-a Red Shouldered Hawk. Ki flapped his wings and held his head proud, he has a magnificent presence.
This is Cascades Raptor Centers story about Ki:
Ki was found as a nestling in June 2003 he was emaciated, weak, with a heavy load of both internal and external parasites, a fungal and bacterial infection, and an injured right eye. The eye had a cataract and ultimately ruptured and collapsed, possibly from a poke by a nest mate competing for food, a crow, or simply a stick in the nest. Diurnal raptors need both eyes to hunt and though a few adults who had already developed their hunting skills might be able to compensate for such a loss, a young bird just learning to hunt would have little chance of survival. The western subspecies of red-shouldered hawk has been expanding its range north from California, first in the winter, and can be found nesting in western Lane County, Oregon.
Melinda Dalke
Please visit the Cascades Raptor Centers Site and donate to their
wonderful cause. http://www.eraptors.org/
Lorax-Great Horned Owl
Puck-American Kestrel
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