Where eagles go to get care

MILFORD — Each year, it accounts for the treatment of approximately 70 injured raptors and the education of over 20,000 members of the community. A big part of its mission aims to rehabilitate and conserve the area’s birds of prey, including eagles, falcons, hawks, owls, and vultures. Its phones buzz off the hook when a wounded bird is seen or rescued road-side. It is the Delaware Valley Raptor Center, and for nearly 20 years its work has been to care for Pike’s animals of flight. Incorporated in 1987 by husband and wife, Bill and Stephanie Streeter, the center is a non-profit organization that receives all funding from membership fees and public donations. It has two locations: one on Cummings Hill, the other on Schocopee Road in Milford. Because the former contains x-ray equipment and a large treatment room, many injured raptors are taken there for care first. However, Stephanie Streeter stressed that neither location is a “zoo.” The public is welcome to tour the facilities, if they are members. Membership forms are available online at www.dvrconline.org. According to employee Jan Lucciola, the leading cause for raptor injury is car collisions and gunshot wounds, followed by being poisoned or orphaned. “There is a difference between hunters and careless shooters,” Lucciola said. “The gunshot wounds aren’t normally from licensed hunters — it’s the hunters who find them hurt and report them to us.” Lucciola also advises the public to place apparently stranded and uninjured baby raptors back into trees, instead of illegally bringing them home as a domestic pet. Often their parents are nearby and they are not orphans. Humans cause significant and lasting harm to raptor chicks when they attempt to raise them. The babies form their “social understanding,” Lucciola said, shortly after they are born. If a human is the first living thing they come into contact with, they will believe they are a member of that species. This process marks a raptor as “imprinted,” and it cannot be released into the wild. In early January 2008, one of Milford’s most famous eagles, a frequenter of Interstate 84’s pine trees, was found alongside Route 6 and 209 by resident Roy DeLuca. Deluca noticed the well-known bird near the road, and drove closer to get a better look. Once he realized the raptor’s poor condition, he immediately called Stephanie Streeter at the center, rather than bringing it home. Streeter said that calls have been pouring in from concerned citizens ever since, asking about the bird’s condition. “He has a luxation, or the dislocation at the elbow, in one wing, and part of his ulna is broken off,” Streeter explained. While the eagle is “doing all right,” he cannot be returned to the wild. This eagle is the second male mate of a breeding female eagle in Milford. The first mate was killed on the interstate. Though the Raptor Center’s primary duty is to care for the injured birds and hopefully release them to their natural habitat, it also focuses on educating members and instilling in them an appreciation for these species. The Center performs hour-long demonstrations at schools and other centers, usually bringing a hawk, falcon, eagle, and two owls for exhibit. Tomorrow, (Jan. 19) Bill Streeter, the center’s director, will bring some programs raptors to Narrowsburg’s seventh annual Eagle Fest, a celebration of the return of the bald eagle to this area. The public is invited to the day’s festivities, as well as the Raptor Center’s demonstrations at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Stephanie Streeter requested, “on behalf of the Delaware Valley Raptor Center and all raptor-lovers,” that should someone find a wounded bird, a call be made to the licensed rehabilitation center. Its Web site also has guidelines on “How to Rescue a Raptor.” People can also help out by donating whole fish and deer meat (large pieces, not ground up or processed in any way). You can call the center about donations or other questions at 570-296-6025.