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Out of the wild

The five birds in the Town Hall banquet room last week were treated like celebrities.

Cameras flashed and people oohed and aahed as Jim Parks removed each one from its carrier and carried it around the room.

Parks is a licensed raptor rehabilitator, and each bird of prey had some kind of injury preventing it from being released back into the wild. But from a seat in the audience, each one looked perfect – and one, a little saw-whet owl, perfectly adorable.

Parks is half of Wingmasters, based in western Massachusetts. The 7-acre licensed facility cares for injured North American birds of prey, and is dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of them.

Most of the birds that Parks and his partner, Julie Anne Collier, rehabilitate can ultimately be released back into the wild, he said, but in some cases, the birds are left permanently handicapped. Wingmasters is further licensed to use its nonreleasable raptors for educational programs, such as the one in Milford on Thursday, Aug. 11.

"Every bird here is found in Milford," Parks said.

But he said seeing them up close, in the wild, is nearly impossible. Their remarkable vision lets them keep their distance from humans and their prey, allowing them to see a deer mouse, for example, up to 1 mile away.

The first bird to come out of its carrier was an American kestrel, or sparrow hawk as it used to be called, though its diet is usually insects and small mammals. The world’s fastest bird, it can gather its feathers together and dive up to 200 miles per hour.

The birds "understand the higher you get, the faster you fall," and their aim is to fly under a flying bird," Parks said.

That’s an incredibly difficult feat, but one that the bird has the confidence to do.

"She doesn’t know she weighs only 6 ounces, " Parks said. "As far as she’s concerned, she’s the world’s largest bird."

In the coming years, the kestrel will be added to the federal list of endangered species because it has a problem adapting to human development and requires "many acres of open fields," Parks said.

The next bird to leave its carrier was a 30-year-old red-tailed hawk. This species will never become extinct – there are more now then ever before – because its diet is mostly trash and rodents.

And these hawks also punch above their weight.

One of them, Parks said, was observed trying to pick up a 14-pound groundhog – and that was when the bird was only 3 months old.

A barred owl and a great horned owl came next.

The barred owl is "pathetically imprinted" on humans, and "she speaks to me. She doesn’t know she’s a bird," Parks said.

The great horned owl had to be rescued twice after its hunting expeditions rewarded it with porcupine quills.

Great horned owls will hunt fox and skunk, and one was "observed successfully hunting a fisher," said Parks, who held up a taxidermied fisher in one hand and the great horned owl in the other to show the size difference.

The Wingmasters program was held in Town Hall and sponsored by the Wadleigh Memorial Library.

More about Wingmasters and North American birds of prey can be found at www.wingmasters.net.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.

Out of the wild

The five birds in the Town Hall banquet room last week were treated like celebrities.

Cameras flashed and people oohed and aahed as Jim Parks removed each one from its carrier and carried it around the room.

Parks is a licensed raptor rehabilitator, and each bird of prey had some kind of injury preventing it from being released back into the wild. But from a seat in the audience, each one looked perfect – and one, a little saw-whet owl, perfectly adorable.

Parks is half of Wingmasters, based in western Massachusetts. The 7-acre licensed facility cares for injured North American birds of prey, and is dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of them.

Most of the birds that Parks and his partner, Julie Anne Collier, rehabilitate can ultimately be released back into the wild, he said, but in some cases, the birds are left permanently handicapped. Wingmasters is further licensed to use its nonreleasable raptors for educational programs, such as the one in Milford on Thursday, Aug. 11.

"Every bird here is found in Milford," Parks said.

But he said seeing them up close, in the wild, is nearly impossible. Their remarkable vision lets them keep their distance from humans and their prey, allowing them to see a deer mouse, for example, up to 1 mile away.

The first bird to come out of its carrier was an American kestrel, or sparrow hawk as it used to be called, though its diet is usually insects and small mammals. The world’s fastest bird, it can gather its feathers together and dive up to 200 miles per hour.

The birds "understand the higher you get, the faster you fall," and their aim is to fly under a flying bird," Parks said.

That’s an incredibly difficult feat, but one that the bird has the confidence to do.

"She doesn’t know she weighs only 6 ounces, " Parks said. "As far as she’s concerned, she’s the world’s largest bird."

In the coming years, the kestrel will be added to the federal list of endangered species because it has a problem adapting to human development and requires "many acres of open fields," Parks said.

The next bird to leave its carrier was a 30-year-old red-tailed hawk. This species will never become extinct – there are more now then ever before – because its diet is mostly trash and rodents.

And these hawks also punch above their weight.

One of them, Parks said, was observed trying to pick up a 14-pound groundhog – and that was when the bird was only 3 months old.

A barred owl and a great horned owl came next.

The barred owl is "pathetically imprinted" on humans, and "she speaks to me. She doesn’t know she’s a bird," Parks said.

The great horned owl had to be rescued twice after its hunting expeditions rewarded it with porcupine quills.

Great horned owls will hunt fox and skunk, and one was "observed successfully hunting a fisher," said Parks, who held up a taxidermied fisher in one hand and the great horned owl in the other to show the size difference.

The Wingmasters program was held in Town Hall and sponsored by the Wadleigh Memorial Library.

More about Wingmasters and North American birds of prey can be found at www.wingmasters.net.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.

Out of the wild

The five birds in the Town Hall banquet room last week were treated like celebrities.

Cameras flashed and people oohed and aahed as Jim Parks removed each one from its carrier and carried it around the room.

Parks is a licensed raptor rehabilitator, and each bird of prey had some kind of injury preventing it from being released back into the wild. But from a seat in the audience, each one looked perfect – and one, a little saw-whet owl, perfectly adorable.

Parks is half of Wingmasters, based in western Massachusetts. The 7-acre licensed facility cares for injured North American birds of prey, and is dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of them.

Most of the birds that Parks and his partner, Julie Anne Collier, rehabilitate can ultimately be released back into the wild, he said, but in some cases, the birds are left permanently handicapped. Wingmasters is further licensed to use its nonreleasable raptors for educational programs, such as the one in Milford on Thursday, Aug. 11.

"Every bird here is found in Milford," Parks said.

But he said seeing them up close, in the wild, is nearly impossible. Their remarkable vision lets them keep their distance from humans and their prey, allowing them to see a deer mouse, for example, up to 1 mile away.

The first bird to come out of its carrier was an American kestrel, or sparrow hawk as it used to be called, though its diet is usually insects and small mammals. The world’s fastest bird, it can gather its feathers together and dive up to 200 miles per hour.

The birds "understand the higher you get, the faster you fall," and their aim is to fly under a flying bird," Parks said.

That’s an incredibly difficult feat, but one that the bird has the confidence to do.

"She doesn’t know she weighs only 6 ounces, " Parks said. "As far as she’s concerned, she’s the world’s largest bird."

In the coming years, the kestrel will be added to the federal list of endangered species because it has a problem adapting to human development and requires "many acres of open fields," Parks said.

The next bird to leave its carrier was a 30-year-old red-tailed hawk. This species will never become extinct – there are more now then ever before – because its diet is mostly trash and rodents.

And these hawks also punch above their weight.

One of them, Parks said, was observed trying to pick up a 14-pound groundhog – and that was when the bird was only 3 months old.

A barred owl and a great horned owl came next.

The barred owl is "pathetically imprinted" on humans, and "she speaks to me. She doesn’t know she’s a bird," Parks said.

The great horned owl had to be rescued twice after its hunting expeditions rewarded it with porcupine quills.

Great horned owls will hunt fox and skunk, and one was "observed successfully hunting a fisher," said Parks, who held up a taxidermied fisher in one hand and the great horned owl in the other to show the size difference.

The Wingmasters program was held in Town Hall and sponsored by the Wadleigh Memorial Library.

More about Wingmasters and North American birds of prey can be found at www.wingmasters.net.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.