Barn Owl Nest Camera

A couple in San Marcos, CA have a nest box with a camera that a barn owl has used twice this season. For the current clutch, one egg was laid on each of these dates: July 6, 8, 11 and 14. The chicks hatched on August 7, 8, 11 and 14. There are two chicks that are still surviving.

The link to watch this is at: http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox

Disclaimer: there is a social chat stream to the side of the site, and the site does occasionally run advertisements.

Harley's Summer

Director of Bird Conservation Mark Martell commented that, "Harley continues to hang around the west end of Vermillion Lake. Both his evening roost sites and daily wanderings are limited to a fairly small area of the Lake. This western edge does not have as many historic eagle nests as parts of the lake further east. It may be an avoidance of conflict with territorial nesting pairs that acts as a restraint on his activity."

Harley's Summer Travels

Since July 18 Harley has restricted himself to using the west end of Vermillion Lake. His evening roost sites and almost all of his daily movements have been in this area.

Raptor Bowl V

Wednesday July 14 was Raptor Bowl V – The Raptor Center’s annual lawn bowling fundraiser! Though skies were a bit ominous at the start, the weather turned out to be a typical July day with lots of sun. Twenty-four teams came out to play for the Championship. This year’s winner was The Eagles, from Medical Technologies, Inc. All who came out agreed it was one of the best events yet, and it certainly helped The Raptor Center with our efforts to keep doing the work we love doing. A big thank-you to Brit’s Pub, who hosted the event, along with sponsors Delta Air Lines, WCCO AM Radio, KARE 11, and Capitol Beverage. Can’t wait to see you next year!

Staff Judy Moran and Claire Palmer enjoyed some sun!

Team members of Walser Honda and Aspen Research try their hand . . .

Dave Lee from WCCO AM Radio and former Viking Randall McDaniel shared stories.

Former Viking Joey Browner was a judge.
Aquatennial Commodore Jim Patterson tried to help his team advance.

Regent Dean Johnson joined Raptor Center Executive Director Julia Ponder, Julie Lee and Susan Hommes.


Samantha the Great Horned Owl, enjoyed a bit of rat during the event.

Alula, a Red-tailed Hawk, also watched the festivities.

Harley Mid Summer Check in

Harley has spent June and July in St. Louis County in northeast MN. He has focused his attention on the St. Louis River in and north of the Sax-Zim bog. However in the past few days he moved even further north and our last reading has him on Vermillion Lake.

TRC at Radio Disney

The Raptor Center traveled to Radio Disney (AM 1440) this week. Interpretive Naturalist Adam Barnett and Baron the American kestrel appeared on “News You Can Use”. It will be aired 6am this Sunday. Pictured here are Adam, Baron and the DJ, John.

Former TRC Bald Eagle Patient

The Raptor Center received news that a former patient has been successful with his second chance at life! An injured Bald Eagle came into The Raptor Center in late 1997 all the way from Crystal Falls, MI (Iron County), flown in on what was Northwest Airlines at the time. He was at TRC for 13 weeks, during which time he had surgery for an ulnar fracture (wing bone). Surgery was performed by Dr. Jalila Abu, a veterinary resident at that time. Dr. Abu has since returned to Malaysia (after finishing her PhD) and is actively involved in wildlife medicine and teaching at a university there. The eagle was released in the Twin Cities in January 1998.

There is a piece of stainless steel shot at the fracture site and a piece of lead shot (meaning the bird was shot under 2 different circumstances) elsewhere in the body, but not causing any problems. At the time he was admitted he was an adult bird at least 5 years old. That means today he is at least 17 years old.

A local man began watching what he believed to be this very bird starting in October 2003. Since then he’s seen the bird raise multiple families of chicks. He was finally able to read and confirm the USFWS band that was placed on the bird when it was released from the clinic.

Carpenter Nature, a long-time partner of The Raptor Center, was the release site for this bird. They also hold the master permit that The Raptor Center bands under.

These photos were taken by Jon Smithers. There is a YouTube video link here of the adult bird.