Support Us
Raptor Conservation Alliance's greatest expense is food. You can help us feed the raptors in our care with a gift card to Rodent Pro, our food supplier. All amounts make a huge difference.
To give a gift certificate, visit www.rodentpro.com/giftcard and select your amount. The "Recipient Email Address" is rcabirds@gmail.com.
Gift certificate donations are tax deductible and you will receive an acknowledgement letter with receipt from Raptor Conservation Alliance for your records. Thank you for your support!!
Distinct Stories
Although our permanent avian residents have names, we don’t name
those admitted into the rehabilitation program. But sometimes a bird comes
along with such distinctive issues that our volunteers give it a nickname.
One such bird was a Great Horned Owl that actually arrived 2 1⁄2
years ago after she was found in a container of vegetable oil. Every feather
(except for her head), was saturated. Despite several baths, the feathers
remained oily. Volunteer, Wendie, dubbed her “Olive Owl.” Since many birds
do not molt every feather annually, Olive Owl spent 2 years growing in most
of her feathers, except for several primaries that still precluded her release.
So, another volunteer was called on, Karl is a licensed falconer, and he
imped new feathers into the damaged shafts with bamboo and super glue.
Finally, Olive Owl could fly! And she finally went home to Alliance this fall.
Photo By Wendie Henderson
A Successful Release
A more recent admit was an adult female bald eagle, found near
Pawnee Lake southwest of Lincoln. She may have been attacked by another
eagle; there was a large hole between her shoulder blades, several puncture
wounds on a wing, and massive tissue damage encircling the tail. Every
wound was loaded with maggots. Initial cleaning was followed by more
extensive wound debridement performed at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. Half
of her tail feathers fell out from the tissue damage. One of our volunteers at
this point dubber her “Maggie.” Over the past 2 months, Maggie has slowly
healed all of her wounds; when we moved her to the Big Eagle Flight, we are
excited to see new tail feathers growing in! Maggie was released the Friday
before Christmas, returning to her nest.
Photo By Dina Barta
A Huge Thank You
We have admitted just shy of 500 raptors. I believe the ongoing drought has contributed to fewer birds for both 2023 and 2022 years. And avian influenza has again become prevalent in the Midwest – we have sequestered our permanent residents (12) again for the winter.
Rehabilitation can be a long progress, but the effort is certainly worth it when birds like Olive Owl and Maggie get to go free again. We at Raptor Conservation Alliance aspire to give every bird the best chance to return to freedom. This commitment was made even stronger this year with the creation of the Elaine Bachel Endowment for Raptor Rehabilitation and Care. Elaine’s endowment was created through her estate gift to Raptor Conservation Alliance and is an endless testament to her lifelong love of nature and advocacy for raptors through her volunteerism.
It is through the generosity of others we are able to continue our work today and in the future. Thank you for being a partner and supporter of our mission of care and conservation for birds of prey in our region and beyond.