Teton Raptor Center cares for injured birds of prey
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com got an up-close look at a large bird-of-prey this week.
Teton Raptor Center Education Director Becky Collier stopped by with “Owly the Owl,” a Great Horned Owl, to discuss birds of prey and the Teton Raptor Center’s rescue, rehabilitation and education efforts.
The Teton Raptor Center is located in Wilson, Wyoming, and cares for birds along both sides of the Idaho/Wyoming border. The center focuses on raptors, which are birds that eat only meat, hunt with the talons and have sharp curved beaks designed for ripping.
“Everything that we do is about raptor conservation, keeping wild birds wild. We do that in three ways,” Collier said.
She described those ways as three different pillars. The first is their research pillar where they research and try to better understand raptors.
The second is their rehabilitation pillar. When a raptor is ill, injured or orphaned they work to rehabilitate the bird and release it.
The third is their education pillar. If they take in a bird that, for whatever reason, is unable to be released, that bird will become part of their educational focus. The birds live at the center and assist with the center’s efforts to educate the public.
Owly is the first of the 13 such birds currently at the center.
“She had been struck by a vehicle as a young bird — less than a year old — struck by a vehicle and injured her wing,” Collier said.
She was found by Teton Raptor Center founder Roger Smith and his wife, Margaret. They had a permit to rehabilitate birds in their home at the time.
While they were able to help Owly’s injured wing heal, Owly never regained enough motion in the wing to be able to fly, so Roger and Margaret kept Owly and got the name from their four-year-old daughter.
They soon realized they didn’t have adequate space and founded the Teton Raptor Center in 2008.
In 2018 the center took in 128 sick, injured or orphaned birds.
Collier said the most common injuries they treat in Great Horned Owls, like Owly, are a result of the birds being struck by cars. She said one way to help prevent that is to avoid tossing food out on the side of the road.
“We think it’s an apple core, it’s biodegradable. But apple cores draw in rodents. They draw in small animals to the sides of the roads,” she explained.
Great Horned Owls and other raptors hunt those rodents on the side of the road raising the risk of them being struck by a vehicle.
Collier said the best thing people can do if they spot an injured bird or are concerned about a supposed abandoned chick is to call the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The number for the Upper Snake River office is (208) 525-7290.
“We work directly with Idaho Fish & Game,” she said. “Let those guys know what it is. They can send someone out.”