Hope everybody enjoyed their long weekend and had a great Independence Day!
The low-key fundraiser is off to a sluggish start, to be honest—just $500 thus far, so we’re only a third of the way toward our goal. Recall that we’re aiming at $1500, and using just the PayPal “Donate” links on the site, rather than one of the fundraising platforms that keeps a portion of the donations.
To give you one example of LWR’s expenses, the turkey vultures consume a bag of 50 medium mice every two days. Medium mice currently sell for $44.50 a bag. So in one week, the vultures alone eat $155.75 worth of mice. As a second example, the red tail trio eats 12 large mice a day. Bags of 50 large mice currently cost $52, so they go through slightly under 2 bags a week, at a cost of $87.36. So for just those 5 birds, that’s $243.11 a week for mice. More birds mean more food expenses, especially when they’re here long-term, like when they come in as babies (like the vultures did). This is why we do fundraisers once or twice a year—to help with the ongoing food expenses.
We managed one release before the weather moved into its random rain pattern that’s kept the gardens watered but precluded any further releases. The barn owl was quite happy to regain his freedom.
The low-key fundraiser is off to a sluggish start, to be honest—just $500 thus far, so we’re only a third of the way toward our goal. Recall that we’re aiming at $1500, and using just the PayPal “Donate” links on the site, rather than one of the fundraising platforms that keeps a portion of the donations.
To give you one example of LWR’s expenses, the turkey vultures consume a bag of 50 medium mice every two days. Medium mice currently sell for $44.50 a bag. So in one week, the vultures alone eat $155.75 worth of mice. As a second example, the red tail trio eats 12 large mice a day. Bags of 50 large mice currently cost $52, so they go through slightly under 2 bags a week, at a cost of $87.36. So for just those 5 birds, that’s $243.11 a week for mice. More birds mean more food expenses, especially when they’re here long-term, like when they come in as babies (like the vultures did). This is why we do fundraisers once or twice a year—to help with the ongoing food expenses.
We managed one release before the weather moved into its random rain pattern that’s kept the gardens watered but precluded any further releases. The barn owl was quite happy to regain his freedom.
The nonreleasable red tail still awaits transfer to Elachee, which should occur soon. The vocal juvie is next up for release once the weather cooperates, and the younger juvie may go to a falconer; we’re working on that possibility.
The turkey vultures are growing apace and really need to be in the main flight, but the three red tails are currently occupying that space.
The red shoulder needs to be in the mini-pen, but the vultures are in it.
And the MIKI also needs to be in a pen, but he’s currently on a waiting list, as it were: LWR has more birds needing pens than available pens—typical for baby season.
We also had one intake, today actually: a barred owl pulled from a barbed wire fence. Bird versus barbed wire, like bird versus vehicle, seldom ends well, and it didn’t in this case. Her left humerus had no flesh left on it. She was humanely euthanized. (The blue-purple tint is Blu-Kote, a medicinal spray farmers use on their livestock, their dogs, their children…it’s all-purpose! The finders doused the wound in hopes of preventing maggots, which it did, although I don’t recommend Blu-Kote for raptors.)
Please don’t forget to donate toward the feeding of these gorgeous raptors buy using the “Donate” links on the website. The birds thank you, as do I!
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