A Message from our Director
November, 2025
Dear Friends,
It’s almost year’s end; the migration event are mostly through. Waves of Swainson’s Hawks passed over the Elmwood Center in mid-October on their way to Argentina. We estimated around four hundred hawks passed over; and just the day before, over 1,000 Swainson’s Hawks passed over Lincoln during a thunderstorm!
Our two little Turkey Vulture youngsters, who arrived here as small chicks, left their steady food source (me), obeying their instincts to go south.
Happily, the summer influx of juvenile Cooper’s Hawks has abated. Many came in with West Nile Virus (WNV) and survived. But WNV can cause pinched feathers which drop out. They had to be held until their tail feathers grew back, prolonging their stay at Raptor Conservation Alliance. At one point we had seventeen of these sassy kids here, each eating two quail a day!
Raptor Conservation Alliance received a grant from the HDR Foundation to install a new floor in the Freezer Room and replace five chest freezers with a walk-in freezer. I’m still figuring out how to best prepare daily food needs without going into that freezer daily (brr)!
Winter quarters are ready for our resident birds to occupy when the weather gets colder. We are experiencing mild temperatures right now, allowing our birds to enjoy their outdoor quarters longer into the season.
Rainfall has been a little better this year, but we are still in a drought. Prey base populations (insects, rabbits, rodents, birds) are slightly up, but we still see birds that arrive starving. Planting more native vegetation, which everyone can do, would help all wildlife. We continue to release birds as they are ready, and admissions have been light but steady.
With careful management, Raptor Conservation Alliance has stayed financially sound; our biggest expense is food- over $50,000 annually. Fraught with uncertainty, non-profits everywhere are unsure of future funding. Our first priority is ensuring the recovery and release of raptors, always. Please help by contributing to Raptor Conservation Alliance. We are grateful for your gifts, large and small.
Thank you,
Betsy Finch, Director
Mail your donation:
P.O. Box 223
Eagle, NE 68347
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