Today I volunteered at Field, Forest and Stream. I took tickets for two hours and thought is was interesting that about 60 % of the people attending were seniors. About 10% were students or children under age 15.
After my shift I attended Beth Bidwell’s program on rehabilitated animals. Beth runs Wildlife Institute of Eastern New York. Today she had a wood turtle, milk snake, peregrine falcon, cooper’s hawk, saw whet owl and barred owl. I learned a number of new facts about the birds. She described raptors as having “extreme focus.” When they are hunting they are so focused on their prey that they don’t even respond to the cars and trucks which hit and injure them. All the birds she brought to Field, Forest and Stream had been hit hunting near roads. Her birds will never be released into the wild because they are unable to fly. Now they are teachers.