Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Eagle Scout Project for The Raptor Center


Bjorn and the crates!
The Raptor Center was recently the recipient of an Eagle Scout’s final project, which is the culmination of leadership training and a project for the benefit of a member of the Scout’s community.  Bjorn E. organized several friends into making eleven new crates for our smaller education birds.  He worked with Gail Buhl, our education program manager, and David S., TRC carpentry volunteer, on the patterns and logistics, and he and his family donated much of the hardware used.  Each crate has a perch that is so there is room for either long (falcons) or short (owls) tails.

These easily washable crates will be used not only for travel to offsite education programs (with a flexible handle/strap), but also in the birds’ enclosures onsite.  The birds can be safely tucked in the crates while cleaning is done in their housing (note the ring at the top of the crates, so it can be hung), and the crates will further be used for ongoing training for the birds. 

Violet the American kestrel on the perch
inside one of the crates. 
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1 comment:

  1. RaptormanNovember 12, 2015 at 7:56 AM

    Nice to see young people involved in the rehab and educational process. It would be interesting to know the materials used to create the "crates". Falconers have for several decades used "giant hoods" to reduce stress while transporting raptors. Many educational birds can be hooded (because the time is available to train the bird to the hood but owls or short term patients can not) so the "crate", "giant hood" or "travel box" solves a need and affords the bird's plumage much greater protection than the common dog crate while also greatly reducing stress.

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