Jefferson Memorial Forest of one of the nation's largest urban forests with 6,218 acres of forests, trails, camping and fishing. Today they celebrated Raptor Day, and Raptor Rehab of Kentucky, Inc. brought birds to the event. The weather was quite chill, so congratulations to everyone who attended, including all the volunteers! The highlight of the day was a release of two Redtail Hawks and three American Kestrels which had been in rehabilitation and were now ready for return to the wild. As you see, one of our volunteers really got into the spirit of the release and almost took flight herself! (Be sure to click on any picture to see a larger version.)
Just watch the flight of this immature bird circling the field, eventually landing in a nearby tree to see where he was. As soon as he landed, a pair of crows immediately began to caw loudly, mobbing him to chase him away, as crows do whenever they see a hawk. I don't know how they found our hawks so fast.
Of the three Kestrels to be released, two were anxious and ready to go, bursting out of the crate as soon as they saw the sky! The third one was more reluctant, and John had to encourage it to take off.
I love working with these birds! Wish you all could have been there too!
1 comment:
Love this and really, really wish I had known and could have been there. I always find out after the fact when these releases take place from one group, or another...boo for me and yeah for those whom are fortunate enough to get invited.
Post a Comment