DOA

I was kicking back on the couch this morning, trying to think of something for the girls and me to do today. (This is the last weekend for Geoff to finish final revisions on his book)

I had a lot of things in mind, but couldn't decide. Then the phone rang, and that something came to me. Dan, one of our dispatchers, called and said that there was a Cooper's hawk downtown that needed to be picked up. And off we went.

Unfortunately, it was dead by the time we arrived.

It had found its way into a parking garage and couldn't find its way out. The man who called it in said that he almost had it once, but it got away and hit a window full force and went down.

So sad...but that's the way it goes sometime.

I thought that this would be an excellent learning opportunity for Isabelle, and I pointed out different parts of the Coop. She exclaimed more than once, "It's so soft!".

She was a little wary of the talons, but I encouraged her to touch them, to feel just how sharp they are and have to be, to catch and eat prey.

Temporary resting place for the Coop...RAPTOR's freezer.

And just because my mother-in-law is rather picky about such things (she's an RN) I had to get a picture of Isabelle washing her hands with some strong disinfectant.

This is Elvis, our program Barred Owl. He doesn't make many appearances on the blog, or programs for that matter. He is a bit feisty, but I have the nerve now to start taking him out more. He looks very innocent, doesn't he? Ha.

Left: Scarlet

Right: Two Socks

Our program red-tailed hawks. RT's are such beautiful powerful birds, and I tend to shy away from them when I am choosing birds for programs, but as with the barred owl, I have the nerve now. (Though I will probably choose Scarlet over Two Socks, since she does a lot better on the glove. Two Socks is the one who gashed me.)

Behind RAPTOR's facility in Mt. Healthy is the Mill Creek. In 1997, the national conservation group American Rivers designated Mill Creek as "The most endangered urban river in North America". Wow. It has multiple pollution sources and stresses, but as you can read in the Mill Creek link, something is getting done about it. I had heard about "that Mill Creek", but I never realized how bad it really was. I learned a few things about it today at the website, and I will think twice before taking the girls back down there. But even with all that, it's still beautiful right behind RAPTOR. A small amount of trash, but other than that, it was clear and clean-looking.