Ready to take wing
by Peter Rusland
The Pictorial
Apr 08 2006
Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke and Ronnie Hawkins aren't humans but they are local celebrities.
"Our three boys were bred here and they're the first babies fledged at Pacific Northwest Raptors," biologist Tina Hein says of the boisterous Harris hawks.
"Lots of them hatch but don't necessarily survive through fledgling, which is leaving the nest, flying and hunting on their own."
The trio of brothers was parent-reared by Queenie and Gollum after hatching in July.
They'll show off their young hunting skills during flying demonstrations this season at PNR.
"The time they would leave the nest naturally is when we started working with them," Hein says.
"We get them used to being with a person then we give them flying training introducing food.
"It's all about positive reinforcement. They hop a short distance to a piece of food and we increase that distance to what you'll see at a flying demonstration."
The hawks are trained raptors but remain "essentially wild with skills for the wild," she explains. "Most would survive in the wild if released. A lot of hunting is instinctive but with us they're honing their hunting skills every day.
"Birds are fed daily here but we do take them out hunting and they get some of that catch."
Hawks catch prey as large as themselves, "so Ed might catch a rabbit," Hein said.
PNR's breeding program prevents birds from having to be brought from outside B.C.
"It's about raptor education in general; how they live, hunt, and why they're important to the environment and spiritually. They're wonderful indicators of habitat pollution," she says. "These three brothers show our breeding program must be working and our program is about educating people."
Harris hawks are native to the American Southwest and range to Chile. "They're a wonderful educational tool because they're the only species of social raptors," Hein says. "They hunt in groups, but all other raptors hunt by themselves so we fly a pack of Harrises."
Hawks, eagles, and owls use their talons to kill prey.
During a flying demonstration they fly to a glove or a lure that looks like a rabbit or another bird.
"We show how a bird uses its aerial ability to catch prey."
Other species among 60 birds at PNR include red-tail hawks, eagles, owls and peregrine falcons all born in captivity.
Captive-bred birds are typically used for falconry.
"We do have some non-releasable, injured birds that are kept permanently that might otherwise possibly be euthanized," she says.
One of those recovering residents is Charlie, a one-wing bald eagle.
"Some are wild and non-releasable and a large majority are captive-bred flying birds and some are doing some breeding," Hein says of PNR, B.C.'s first bird-of-prey and falconry centre that opened in 2003.
"Our birds do in captivity what they do in the wild.
"They're the bosses; we work for them and they help us teach people about raptors."
PNR encourages folks to take injured birds found to a rehabilitation centre such as Errington's North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre.
"We're not a rehab centre, but we will take bird in an emergency; we don't want to see anything harmed," says Hein.
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