JANUARY 2025 NEWSLETTER Donate here MONTHLY ONLINE DONATION APPRECIATION We would like to recognize the following people who made donations through our website, we truly appreciate the support! James Leffler Jr, Mike Bonfield, Lilian Rodriguez, Wendy Freund, Jill Hart, Christopher Adams, & Crystal Wallace. THANK YOU! MEET RTH 25-36 This juvenile Red Tailed Hawk has a miraculous story. We received a call from a woman in shock in Lexington about a hawk that was attacked by a Peregrine Falcon, mid flight. The falcon swooped off of a high building down to the flying hawk and struck him with great force causing the hawk to fall 19 stories to the ground. We fully expected this hawk to have severe internal trauma and fractures upon arrival. On intake, we were shocked to discover, after the x-ray, that the hawk sustained no fractures to any bones and only minor wounds. The falcon appeared to have grabbed the hawk by the left knee and beak, then dropped him to the ground. Currently, the hawk is in our hospital being treated with fluids, pain meds, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and wound care. We are optimistic that the hawk will make a full recovery. There is a large population of Peregrine Falcons in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. Peregrines use high-rise buildings for perching and nesting allowing them to watch for smaller birds to fly below. Once spotted, the falcons will dive down to the birds and hit them with a force up to 240mph in a stoop. Peregrines are also known as the “Duck Hawk” and will predate on any bird duck size or smaller. They have been known to attack larger birds, like Red Tailed Hawks, while defending territory and nesting sites. THE SNOWY OWL FASCINATION BY DAVE DICKS Big news in the birding world this week here in Louisville. A rare sighting of a Snowy Owl. While, yes, this is exciting, we at RROKI dread the phone call that a Snowy Owl has been spotted this far south. Kentucky is not a normal habitat for Snowy Owls. Every four to five years in the Arctic there is a boom in the Lemming population. Which is great for the Snowy owl, as Lemmings are their favorite food. Since egg numbers are often tied to volume of food available, the year after a Lemming boom, is called a Snowy Owl irruption year. In an irruption year, many more Snowy Owlets are hatched compared to a “normal” year. During an irruption, food in the tundra becomes scarce and the Snowy Owl ventures further and further south. Eventually, making it as far south as Kentucky and causing the stir that has occurred this week. It is rare to have a Snowy Owl come this far south, but irruptions have been recorded since the 1800s. During the winter of 2013-2014, Snowy Owls were spotted as far south as Florida and even Bermuda. It is because of this rarity, that so many folks get excited to go get a picture, see it from a distance, or hope to have it fly over their head. These birds really draw a crowd here in Kentucky, and that’s the problem. Many photographers flock to the area hoping for that perfect shot. The issue is that Snowy Owls generally have the entire Arctic to escape from people. Here in urban Louisville, there is really nowhere for the bird to go to escape people. Snowy Owls are reclusive in nature and do not like being in populated areas. The owl will come only because they don’t have a food source otherwise. If they feel threatened by a crowd they will often flee into dangerous situations, like the path of an oncoming airplane, car, truck, or train. Our wildly fluctuating winter temperatures here in Kentucky are not conducive to the thick feathers that cover the Snowy Owl. The window of time the owl spends here is very short. If they are injured and brought to us we have to work quickly to get the bird out and back to appropriate temperatures. Our last Snowy Owl patient at RROKI was seven years ago in December of 2017. He had been struck by a car twice on the Watterson. We were able to successfully treat him and release him. We had to drive him all of the way to Michigan and release him in early March of 2018. If the recently spotted Snowy Owl ends up in our care, I don’t know that we have enough time to successfully treat him and get him north before it gets too hot. While I understand the excitement of seeing a Snowy Owl here in Louisville, I would ask you to give consideration to some of the issues that may cause. WINTER EGG LAYING SPECIES IN KENTUCKY Bald Eagle: January-March Great Horned Owl: February-March Barred Owl: March Eastern Screech Owl: March-April Barn Owl: March-August Photos from John Dennis in Waverly, West Virginia. Would you like to have your photography of Birds of Prey in our newsletter? You can submit your photos to
[email protected] Please provide your name and the location of where the picture was taken. Here at RROKI we specialize in Birds of Prey Only. If you find a Songbird, Mammal, or Waterfowl please use this link to find the right rehabber near you. https://app.fw.ky.gov/rehabilitatorNew/ WANT TO VOLUNTEER? You can download the form here . ADOPT A BIRD Would you like to sponsor one of our Educational Birds for a year? You can help pay for their care and schedule a tour to meet them! Please fill out the form and email it or mail it to us! WOULD YOU LIKE TO DONATE? You can send donations to the address below: Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky, Inc. P.O. Box 206186 Louisville, KY 40250-6186 We are in need of Vitahawk, if you would to donate this you can order it here . WOULD YOU LIKE A TOUR? Please email us at
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