River Valley Raptors Inc.

05/10/2026

04/25/2026

Tis the season for baby birds! Make sure you know what to do or ask a rehabber for help! And never feed any wild animal that you find.

IT'S BABY OWL SEASON! This is the season when lots of young owls fall out of their nests for various reasons. Because they are all fuzzy, most people assume they are too young to be out of the nest. It's normal for owls to leave the nest before they can fly well, so just because they are fuzzy and on the ground doesn't mean they need help. Here's how to assess the situation:

--If the owlet has blood on it, is obviously injured, or isn't bright-eyed and alert, it needs to go to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator ASAP. Use this link to find a rehabber in the USA: https://www.internationalowlcenter.org/rehabberlist.html

--If the owlet has fully grown wing feathers and a mostly grown-in tail, it's a fledgling and old enough to be out of the nest. Keep cats and dogs in the area indoors for a few days while the owlet gets the hang of flying. In the meantime, it can climb up into bushes and trees, and/or you can pick it up (with gloves) and put it up onto a branch off the ground. It will just jump out of the nest if you try to put it back into its nest or into an artificial nest.

--If the owlet is too young to be out of the nest (the young Great Horned Owl pictured above is just a little bit too young), it should be put back into its nest or into an artificial nest close to the original nest. Parents will look for their young and feed them if they are anything other than tiny nestlings. For screech and barred owls, you can put up a nest box with the young one in it. For Great Horned Owls, laundry baskets with holes drilled in the bottom and filled with wood shavings (not sawdust, because it holds moisture) work very well.

--If you know that one parent has been killed, fear not! Owls are great parents and as long as the owlets are old enough to thermoregulate, one parent can often finish raising the kids.

--If in doubt, take a photo of the owlet and discuss the situation with your nearest wildlife rehabilitator. Other owl species have different needs, so consult with a rehabber for them.

To help age young Great Horned Owls and give you an idea what their flight feather growth looks like, you can click the link below to check out our growth guide:
https://www.internationalowlcenter.org/uploads/1/0/3/1/103197186/great_horned_owl_age_chart.pdf

The young Great Horned Owl in this photo fell out of its nest in rural Houston after a windstorm this spring and was put up in a neighboring tree in an artificial nest.

04/07/2026

Joe and I spent the last week in Cincinnati at the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators and Animal Behavior Management Alliance joint annual conference with amazing trainers and keepers all trying to do the best for the animals in their care! We came home inspired to do the best for our birds and refreshed from hanging out with some of our favorite people!

04/07/2026

June 4th will be River Valley Raptors and to celebrate there will be Harry Potter trivia with live owls!!

🎉 I'm so excited to announce our Better Together Thursdays! New this year we will be donating $2/burger on Thursdays to a featured nonprofit or community group. Some groups also need physical things so we will be doing drives for them that we will do over the whole weekend. Plus more! Details will be out soon but the calendar was just finalized and I wanted to tell you asap so you can start saving the dates! Calendar below.

Also, we are on the hunt for any local folks or businesses that might be interested in MATCHING our burger donation (a couple hundred dollars if the weather is nice) so if you know of anyone - please connect us!

I tried to do some fundraising early in our Burger Night days (as evidenced by Baby Adeyle in the photo) but I made things too complicated and difficult, now I think we've found a nice little sweet spot where we can do some real good in our community and we can all have lots of fun doing it. I mean, you just need to show up and eat - how perfect is that?! (But if you want to do more, you'll have the option!)

Save the dates to support local even more:

May 14: Trinity EC
May 21: Bolton Refuge House
May 28: Fierce Freedom
June 4: River Valley Raptors Inc.
June 11: Sleep in Heavenly Peace
June 18: Hope Gospel Mission
June 25: Red House of Hope
July 2: Warm Kids Wisconsin
July 9: Mondovi Public Library
July 16: Buffalo County Humane Association
July 23: Mondovi Area Food Pantry
July 30: Positive Alternatives
August 6: Eleva-Strum Stuff the Bus
August 13: Mondovi Elementary Backpack Program
August 20: Chippewa Valley Wildlife Rehabilitation
August 27: Feed My People Food Bank
September 3: Luke 3:11 Project
September 10: SAFE Wisconsin - Stuffed Animals for Emergencies
September 17: Gilmanton School Health Shelf

We will still be doing trivia on Thursdays, that lineup will be out by the end of the week. Lots more details soon!

For now, please SHARE and TAG anyone you know who would love to eat a burger to help others and anyone/anyplace that might have a couple hundred bucks to MATCH what we all eat! ❤🍔

03/23/2026

Excuse me, do I have something on my beak?

01/23/2026

We get to see some of the coolest interactions when we are working in the field with Resource Project on Golden Eagle migration patterns. Like seeing this juvenile golden eagle chasing a herd of deer!

To learn more about the Golden Eagle project check out https://www.raptorresource.org They now have several years of data on Golden Eagle migration.

12/23/2025

Learn about husbandry, training, falconry and more! You can also earn CEUs.

11/22/2025

10/20/2025

One caught sleeping the other caught bathing!

10/16/2025

Did you know that over 10,000 Golden Eagles migrate into the US from Canada and Alaska every fall? And that there has been a 35% decline of migratory eagles over the past 30 years? Nearly every eagle from the north migrates into the lower 48, and their migration period overlaps with our hunting seasons along the way. Eagles tend to migrate solo and return to the same breeding and wintering grounds for up to 35 years! Hunters can provide a great resource to the eagles as they fly over 3,000 miles each fall by leaving gutpiles for them to eat. Let's just make sure we leave them a clean meal by using lead-free ammunition.

For more information on how to switch to lead-free or for recommendations on lead-free ammunition, check out our website at the link in our bio.