Broad winged Hawk

Four new birds will move into
our new raptor cage

This juvenile broad-winged hawk came to the Center in late August after she had flown into a trailer. We had hoped to release her with 2 other young birds on September 21 on Mount Agamenticus, to join them in their long migration to Central America. But this individual had nerve damage from her accident and was not able to regain flight. After several weeks in a special flight enclosure where she had lots of opportunity to hone her skills, we determined that she was non-releasable. Still, it was not clear how well she would adjust to a life in captivity as one of our education ambassadors, so we tested her out to see if 1) she would eat amply to maintain her appropriate weight; and 2) she would tolerate the potential stress of being in close contact with humans, sitting on a leather glove and potentially traveling in a box to schools and other programs along with our education team. We expected this test to take a few weeks. But to our surprise and delight, the first time she was tethered and held on a glove, she sat calmly, looked around, and seemed not to be bothered at all. We were thrilled to know that we could add her to our family of non-releasable raptors and give her a satisfactory life working as an ambassador for her species.

American Kestrel

This gorgeous female kestrel was transferred to us from another center in Arizona. When we went out on the Internet last winter in search of a kestrel to add to our falcon program, we received a reply that she would be available, but we had no idea the wait
would be so long. But she's here at last (arrived in September) and doing very well in her training to become an ambassador in our outreach work with schools and community groups. Her temperament is calm, cool and collected - and she seems to enjoy the attention of children and adults alike.

Male Peregrine Falcon


Many of our readers have had the pleasure of meeting the charismatic "Freyja" - our 2+ year old resident Peregrine Falcon. Freyja came to us in November 2004 as a non-releasable program bird from Worcester, Mass, via Tufts Wildlife Center, and has been working as an ambassador of her species in education programs around the area. Imagine our amazement when a few weeks ago we received a phone call from Tufts, again offering us a non-releasable Peregrine - this time an adult male - if we had room at our Raptor Inn.

Not only was this bird from the Worcester area, but it was determined that it was highly likely that he was the father of the nest from which Freyja originally hatched! What a sweet but sad coincidence that 2 such awesome birds from the same family would end up here at CFW. He arrived a few weeks ago and has taken up residence in an enclosure adjoining his daughter's. We don't know if there is recognition of their relationship, but there is certainly lots of curiosity! We hope they will be able to cohabitate once the new enclosure is finished....and we will soon see! We're not sure if this adult - so accustomed to living for years in the wild - will be able to tolerate the handling required to join our outreach programs. We are just so grateful to have the challenge - and the immense pleasure - of adding another peregrine to the fold.

Male Barred Owl

Our newest barred owl came to the Center in early January 2006, after he was struck by a car in Eliot, Maine. Tragically, he had a broken wing, and due to the location and nature of the fracture, he could not be healed adequately for release. Instead, however, he became a welcome addition to our team of education ambassadors. In February, he moved outside to live with another barred owl and a long-time educator, Bianca. It took our new man awhile to adjust to his new home, but by the end of summer, he seemed comfortable, and in September we began training him for education programs. He has just learned to sit on the glove, and after some more practice, he will begin box-training in a couple weeks (the birds travel to programs in boxes, each constructed for the individual bird’s comfort and security, and it takes some practice for them to sit in them properly). Once he masters entering and exiting the box, he will be ready to start meeting audiences to teach them about the amazing owls of New England. After much debate, we decided to name him Byron.

Click here to fill out the online adoption form.


Sign up for our Email Newsletter