Last year’s cases were intense, but the actual number of intakes was just about average: 167.  The first six weeks of 2007, however, saw a big jump, with 33 birds received in the first 47 days.  Last year, we were nearly to the end of March before the 33rd bird arrived.  We don’t know if that spike will be sustained, as it has slowed down since - and we particularly don’t know what 'baby season' will hold..  But we’re ready!

Where screech owls are typically the most common owl to which we play 'host,' this winter Northern saw-whet owls have bumped them from first place, with six of the first 33 birds of 2007.  Two were transferred here for assessment from Wildlife Rehabilitation of the North Coast (one we just released, one we are keeping for education), one has been released already, one died, and two are next in line for live prey training and evaluation of their flying ability after recovering from fractures.

We’ve seen two bald eagles brought in already dead (an adult hit by car and a first year bird killed by electrocution) and one we had to euthanize immediately.  It’s always extra sad for me to see an otherwise perfectly healthy bird, especially a young bird who is doing very well for herself, lose out to confrontations with human civilization.  The bird we had to euthanize was also a very sad, and confusing, situation: an apparent fight to the death between two very healthy adults.  This is the third case this winter (one in Minnesota and one in Kansas) about which we’ve heard that involved a fight to the death, not only outside breeding season but during the season when bald eagles are typically rather communal.  Competing over food, of course, when they gather in large groups but not usually having this kind of serious altercation off breeding grounds.

Two hold-overs from 2006, who will be with us for awhile because of feather damage are a red-tailed hawk and an osprey.  We wrote up the osprey for our annual print newsletter in December - and he’s doing well in terms of the severed tendon.  But he’s been flying SO well in our 100' flight cage that he was hanging from the roof.  Coupled with the typical feather problems that seem to be a constant with ospreys (their wings are so long and heavy, and their legs so short, that when one wing is wrapped, they tend to fall a lot), he has broken so many feathers on both wings and his tail that he’ll be with us through a molt.  We are trying to induce an early molt, by extending his photoperiod with artificial lights, as we do not think ‘imping’ (the implanting and gluing of new feathers into the shafts of old ones) could stand up to the osprey lifestyle of crashing into the water after fish!

The other bird has even more feather problems - this time from fire.  Red-tailed hawk 06-133 has been with us since October 8th.  She came in very thin (881 gms - just under 2 pounds; she’s now a good 3 pounds) with a majority of the feathers on both wings and tail burned down to the shaft.  She looked rather like a porcupine! She was also burned on the front of both lower legs and had a serious and deep burn on the abdomen and upper right leg.  What was really odd was a deep puncture wound on the chest and the fact that she’d been living with the burned feathers long enough, though unable to fly, that some of them had been already replaced in a molt! These feathers did not look like the result of electrocution but of fire - all we could think of was that she had somehow been caught in a grass field burn as her location was right for that.  Maybe she came down to catch something exposed by the fire? Maybe something else had happened to cause her to be unable to fly and she was then caught in the fire? We don’t know.  The abdominal and leg wounds have healed well and with full function.  (There was definitely a period where we thought scar tissue was going to result in lack of full use of the right leg.) So now it’s a wait and see on the feathers.  Imping is not a possibility for this case, either, as you need more than just a naked shaft to which to attach a new feather!

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Winter is typically the time of trauma and starvation; it’s the time that young birds ‘wash out’ of the system.  Although with the owls it’s difficult to tell ages, the hawks have an immature plumage that makes first year birds distinguishable from adults.  Where our winter casualties are most typically weighted heavily on the immature side, this year the reverse has been true - possibly reflecting a cyclical low in the prey population last summer, which may have led to fewer adults nesting and fewer young fledging successfully.  This was also reflected in the unusually low number of youngsters brought in for care during 2006.  That decrease in the prey base is then reflected by a higher than average percentage of adults coming in during the winter.  For example, of the 33 birds we’ve seen this year, almost half (16) have been red-tailed hawks but only three of those have been immature birds.  Of course, even adults get injured and, unable to hunt, starve until they are weak enough to be found and brought in, but we’ve had several that were starving without an obvious injury to explain their lack of hunting success.  My personal observation of the red-tails seen along our area’s roads also reflects this unusually high proportion of adults to juvies - instead of the more typical ratio of about 3 juvies to every adult, it’s probably been the opposite (in my totally unscientific survey!)

Our Education Team had an interesting February, with eight of us attending the annual conference of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators in Tacoma WA.  Laurin and I have been to several IAATE conferences, but having it so close (it moves around each year) was a wonderful opportunity to share with others on the team what’s always been a fun and informative experience.  Everyone got information on training with operant conditioning, as well as enrichment, through workshops.  The chance to pick the brains of folks much more experienced in training and flying birds is always priceless.  And we were all very inspired by seeing what is happening in environmental education at other nature centers and zoos.  Pre-conference field trips involved bird watching, falconry experiences, a visit to the Woodland Park Zoo and the market and aquarium at Pike’s Place in Seattle, and a post-conference float on the Skagit River looking for bald eagles.  Of course, this January had the highest number of eagles ever reported on the Skagit ...  but almost all were gone by the time we were there! However, we did see a couple dozen eagles and three of us got to see an adult bald catch a fish not 30' in front of our raft! Something not even our guide had ever seen before.

My sincere gratitude to everyone who took the time to attend, and particularly to the five volunteers who attended at their own expense! Your commitment to the birds is a daily inspiration to me.

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This winter term our Education Coordinator, Kit Lacy, and other members of the Education Team have been particularly busy visiting rural schools, thanks to a Title II Grant to Counties administered by the US Forest Service.  Changes in the way schools are funded in the last ten years have often left rural schools unable to afford many enriching activities.  We have been delighted to receive funding to bring our birds to these areas of the state where children are living in close proximity to the most natural habitats - exciting their interest in what’s right around them and, we hope, building their understanding and interest in protecting it.  This grant, which funded 20 classroom programs this last winter term, will also allow us to bring 200 students to CRC on field trips this spring.

Any of you who have visited the Center know that we have taken some precautions to protect our birds from West Nile Virus.  We’ve vaccinated in each of the last three years and completely screened the cages.  Given that no one knows if the vaccine (equine killed virus) works on birds or, if it does, on which birds or for how long, we’ve felt the screening was necessary.  That latter has been a bit of a sore point, as it definitely impairs visibility on any but the brightest of days - and even then, depending on the angle of the sun at different times of the day. However, now that it’s winter and until we hear of WNV in the area, we’ve rolled up the screens over the viewing windows.

New Sign on the Way

Soon, you will no longer have the excuse of ‘we couldn’t find you!’ for not coming to visit! Thanks to the wonderfully creative design and labor donations of Jeff Wisdom of Signworks of Oregon, and the $1000 contribution for materials by Stan Perry in memory of his mother, we will soon have a beautiful roadside entrance sign announcing our location.  Should be in place before Earth Day.

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Help Us While You Shop! - Macy’s Shop for a Cause

Here’s a one-time opportunity that needs some quick action! ...  When you SHOP FOR A CAUSE at Macy's on Saturday, March 17th, with a savings pass, you can get great savings AND support Cascades Raptor Center! Macy's has chosen CRC as a one of the beneficiaries of this year's Shop for a Cause ...  We sell $5 'savings passes' which you can use to receive a 20% discount when shopping at Macy's all day on March 17th.  WE get the $5 and YOU get the 20% discount on purchases made the day of the sale.  The 20% discount is on top of most sale and regular prices, with exclusions on furniture, mattresses, floor coverings and electrics.  The passes are good at Macy's in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Wyoming.

However, you must buy your savings passes from us at the center or from us at specified times at our local Macy's! Passes purchased at Macy's (available from March 5th through the day of the sale) go into a general 'pot' - which is then awarded to the non-profit who has sold the most passes on their own.

We will have volunteers at the Eugene Valley River Center Macy's at the following times and places to sell passes that do go to our credit:

Saturday, March 10: 4:00-8:00 pm at the mall entrance Sunday, March 11: 1:00-4:00 pm at the mall entrance Friday, March 16: 4:00-8:00 pm on the second floor Saturday, March 17: 4:00-8:00 pm at the menswear entrance from the parking lot

Please come on by the Center at 32275 Fox Hollow Rd during our open hours to buy your savings passes OR mail us your $5 check and we'll promptly send you your savings pass, OR stop by Macy's during the times and places listed above to buy your pass.  And take a poll of your office co-workers and get them to participate! Just stop by or send us your check and we'll sell you as many passes as you want!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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And if you explore our website, you will see that we have added a number of ways that you can help us while helping yourself! Do your internet searches through GoodSearch (you can even install a toolbar in your browser to make it easy!), and we get a few cents per search.  GoodSearch is powered by yahoo’s search engine, so your access to web information will in no way be hampered by choosing this way of supporting us (or another charity of your choice, of course!)

And MORE:

We have also established direct links from our ‘Support’ page to several shopping sites.  Amazon.com, of course, needs no introduction, but now that we are an ‘associate,’ if you enter their site from ours, we get a percentage on what you purchase...  no extra charge to you! Same for two other sites, iGive.com and BuyForCharity.com, that link you to hundreds of your favorite on-line shopping stores ...  like Barnes & Noble, PetsMart, Travelocity and many, many more!

Got an old cell phone? Recycle it AND contribute to Cascades Raptor Center by sending it to wirelessfundraising.com! Just go online through the link on our site, print out a mailing label using the form they provide, pack up the phone and mail it off.

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Our 13th Annual Earth Day Celebration is on the horizon.  Sincere thanks to Emge & Whyte, CPAs and Unique Properties for joining KVAL in sponsoring this event for the second year in a row.  This year, our event falls right on Earth Day itself - Sunday, April 22nd - and will be from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Given the overwhelming attendance last year and resulting parking issues, we are working on setting up some kind of shuttle service from some nearby parking area.  Stay tuned! And, for the first time, we are working to make it a real fund-raiser, with a nominal admission charge and small fees for food and drink and, perhaps, face-painting.  Though it’s a fun time for everyone, it’s also an enormous amount of work, and we’ve grown to the point that we really need to make it an event that more than just breaks even.  Come help us celebrate the earth on which we live!

An additional change we are making is adding a Members’ Preview Reception with wine tasting and silent auction the evening before.  An Open House for members, when it’s not so crowded! Hope to see you all at one or the other - or both!

Barnes & Noble Book Fair - We will have a table of our favorite books for sale at the Earth Day Celebration, courtesy of Barnes & Noble, on which we get to keep the difference between wholesale and retail prices.  But those are just some of the many, many books and other items Barnes & Noble carries, of course.

So they are hosting a book fair to benefit CRC the entire week following Earth Day, culminating in an in-store event on Saturday, April 28th, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

With our Earth Day Celebration announcements, we will be mailing you a voucher that you can take to the Eugene Valley River Barnes & Noble store any time the week of April 22nd-28th.  A percentage of the purchase price of books, DVDs, CDs and other gifts you buy that week will be donated to us when you present this voucher! These vouchers will also be passed out at our Earth Day Celebration to all attendees.  And, to culminate that week, bring your family to the Valley River store on Saturday for story times, activities, and to hear, live, the beautiful Native American flute music of Skyhawk - who also donates a portion of the purchase price of her CDs to CRC.

Cascades Raptor Center is again a co-sponsor of the 2nd Annual Wings & Wine Festival on Saturday, May 12, at Secret House Winery and other places around Fern Ridge Reservoir and Veneta.  This event is a celebration of International Migratory Bird Day - and the importance of the reservoir and adjacent wetlands as critical birding areas.  Check out www.wingsandwinefestival.com for more information ...  lots of great bird walks, family activities, canoeing, and gourmet dinner!

The 3rd Annual Chocolate Challenge is being held on Saturday, May 19th - and this year is a benefit for your very own Cascades Raptor Center! We’ll be posting more information on our website - so check back! In the meantime, mark your calendar for the 19th and plan on checking it out at Fenario’s Gallery, 881 Willamette St, in Eugene, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm ...  Prepare to taste the work of ten different chocolatiers and maybe enter your own masterpiece in the competition, as well! Contact pet@alderart.com for more information.

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Although we don’t yet have the final adjusted numbers, all income categories, with the exception of grants, were up significantly in 2006.  With the end of our generous three-year grant from the Kinsman Foundation to fund the position of Assistant Director, overall grant income was down $25,000; however, income from memberships, donations, sponsorships, and admissions and education were up $20,000, leaving us down only $5,000 over the year before, with overall cash income of just over $150,000.  

Annual revenues, including in-kind contributions, over the previous four years (2002-2005) have averaged just under $150,000, with an average of 49% of cash income coming from grants, 38% from donations and memberships, 12% from admissions and education programs, and less than 1% from retail sales and other miscellaneous sources.  Professional services such as web site maintenance, bookkeeping and accounting (and photography - see below!), and other in-kind donations from animal food to gravel and lumber average in value over $34,000 per year, thanks to our generous community of supporters.  Volunteer labor contributes well over 10,000 hours each year which, at even minimum wage, constitutes a value of well over $75,000 as well, which is not reflected in our financial statements - but makes it clear that our volunteers are the backbone of our operation! These hours are contributed by animal care volunteers, artists, mainstream and at-risk youth doing community service and job skill development work, and friends and supporters doing such things as building trails and cages, transporting injured birds, or organizing and staffing fund-raising events and our educational display booths.  On the expense side, an average of 85% goes to program services (education and rehabilitation), 7% to management and general expense, and 8% to fund-raising.

CRC expands its capabilities each year, with a fantastic team of volunteers and very few staff.  Over 8,000 people visited the Center during 2006 and over 50,000 lives were touched with an up-close look at the majesty of our native birds of prey.  But we need your help.  Donations, sponsorships and annual memberships are all tax deductible to the full extent of the law.  Your support will mean more students having a Raptor Experience in their classroom or on a visit to the Center, more and more varied learning programs at the Center (on the drawing board for 2007 are potential nature writing classes for young people, art summer camps, and more), and more rescues throughout a broader area.

Can you help?
As the overview of our finances makes cyrstal clear, we are extremely dependent on the generosity of our individual and business supporters.  Won't you please help?  Grants are wonderful, of course, and we very much appreciate the assistance of the foundations who have so generously supported us. Grants, however, are almost always restricted to specific projects.  Our wonderful members and donors provide the all-important general operating expense funds that allow us to feed, care, and house the birds brought in for rehabilitation, not to mention pay the mortgage, electricity and other bills!  You can donate online, safely and easily, or print out a donation/membership/sponsorship form, and mail in a check.  Please help our birds by going to Donate.  And, businesses: please contact us about our corporate sponsorship program! THANK YOU!

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Kinsman grant
Our sincere appreciation to the Kinsman Foundation, for their commitment to wildlife rehabilitation, their on-going support of CRC, and their recent grant for the materials to build three new display enclosures.  ‘Arctic Row,’ here we go! On our shady, north-facing side (which also has a nice view out towards the city), an Eagle Scout project will be constructing the habitat enclosure for our gyrfalcon, and we’ll also be building more spacious quarters for our snowy owl (which will allow us to get our Cooopers hawk back on display).  Lastly, plans call for a new permanent habitat for our rough-legged hawks, who have been rather bounced around the last few years.  Anyone interested in volunteering construction labor, please let us know! (And contributions toward an enclosure for our new white-tailed kites would be much appreciated - they are next in line!)

Brian Lanker, THANK YOU!
We have been very blessed by the generous donation of the time and skills of Brian Lanker, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and Eugene resident, to take studio photographs of some of our birds.  Some of the photos he shot a few years ago as part of an Oregon book have been featured on our outreach posters for our Earth Day Celebrations, stickers, and thank you postcards.  These new ones will be a wonderful addition.  We really appreciate your support, Brian! (We are thinking of doing a calendar or set of postcards/prints for sale.  The photos are fantastic and should be shared.)

Donors
As you can tell from our Finances section, individual contributions provide the critical core of funding that enables our work.  Many, many thanks to the generous people who so kindly put the needs of our birds, and the need to keep the natural world in the hearts and minds of the next generation, so high on their list of commitments.  Our particular thanks, at this time of the year, to those in private businesses who designate their United Way donations to our cause, and to the federal employees who do the same through the Combined Federal Campaign (for a total of over $3000 in the coming year!) You are all very much appreciated - and I hope we’ll see you for a visit!

Volunteers
As we head into our busiest season (and not just with rehab cases, but with preparation for our Earth Day events and education programs), I cannot miss this opportunity to give personal thanks to all our fantastic volunteers.  We also have a great, very talented staff, too, believe me (all two of them!) - but it’s the 60 volunteers who keep it all together and allow the staff to keep ‘growing’ the organization.  We have an awesome team of the most amazingly giving people.  We definitely could not do this without them.  Come on up and meet some of them! They’re here 12 hours a day, seven days a week...

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Happy Spring to you all!

Louise