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12/01/2021 07:30 AMConnecticut’s shoreline has seen a fortunate improvement in the health of a number of animal species in the last few decades. Marine mammals, fish stocks, birds, and other mammal have all received support, in no small part due to the efforts of people like Terry Shaw who have devoted their time to saving our precious resources.
After retiring from UPS after a four-decade career, Terry has been a volunteer at A Place Called Hope (APCH) for many years. The efforts of Killingworth based APCH and its Director Christie Cummings have been an invaluable contributor in helping the shoreline’s raptor population make a comeback, but there is still much work to do to protect these critical links of the food web.
Raptors, or birds of prey, are birds that eat live prey. They include eagles, osprey, hawks, falcons, and also our beloved owl species. There are 23 different species of raptors that call Connecticut home and though many are thriving after decades of declining numbers, many species are still in critical trouble and in need of help, in particular barn owls and kestrels.
Terry says the organization takes in 500 to 600 birds a year to try to save and then rehabilitate back into the wild.
“Meaning some days, it’s only two birds, other days it’s 9 or 10. They are a busy place,” Terry says. “They have a lot of volunteers to make this all happen. We ourselves have picked up more than 100 raptors in the five to six years we have been working with them.”
Though several of these species, includes kestrels, are currently not thriving as well as other species, with the efforts of Terry and organizations like APCH, ospreys and eagles have once again found stable population numbers along the shoreline.
“Back in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, DDT wiped out virtually all of the eagles and osprey. The DDT made the eggs soft and we were very close to losing some of these species. When they banned that, that was the beginning of the turn-around,” Terry says. “Toward the end of the ‘80s, we started to see a rebound and both eagles and osprey are actually doing quite well now, but there is a secondary issue now. Habitat is being lost, people are building along the coast and marshes and we need to address this problem as well.”
Different species sadly suffer from different mortality and injury issues. According to Terry, owl and hawks can be poisoned after eating rodents that have ingested rodenticides. These small, fragile birds succumb quite quickly if they eat a rodent that has poison in its symptom, an important reason why controlling pests with poisons in not recommended.
“Raptors do a pretty good job of controlling pests. Depending on the size and species, they are taking mice and rats and moles and voles and squirrels, but raptors only eat another live animal,” says Terry. “As a result of that, one of the biggest problems are the folks who put out any kind of poison to control mice or rats is simply a bad thing. That poison gets ingested by the raptors and they can only ingest a very small amount of these rodenticides and they are doomed. They just don’t survive. We really recommend that people do not use these products to control rodents.”
When it comes to osprey, which normally do not make rodents a part of their diet, the biggest threat to them is fishing line, balloon strings, and other materials to which these birds are attracted and line their nests with.
“Many of our osprey rescues are in or around the nests as a result of this. They obviously can become entangled and trapped, but they also suffer from leg abrasions, which can also lead to a bad outcome for these birds.” Terry says. According to Terry, the ambush predation techniques of these birds can lead to injuries involving power lines, vehicles, and windows.
“These birds are focused on their prey. They get so focused in on what they are preying on and so you get a lot of car strikes. Also, from windows in general,” says Terry. “The steeper the angle they hit, the more likely they are to die, and sadly a lot of these don’t survive. We just had a barred owl last week in the Guilford area that had suffered a window strike.”
Sadly, Terry and APCH also find raptors that have been shot. This is illegal and very frustrating for the volunteers.
“Whether these are a mistake by a hunter or someone protecting livestock like chickens, we don’t know, but you are not allowed to shoot raptors,” Terry says.
Terry also helps manage a side unit of APCH that rebuilds and erects osprey nests for these territorial and mercurial birds. According to Terry, osprey need large expanses of open area around their nests and nesting platforms need to be not only well made, but also built to specific standards.
“There was a heavy round of building [osprey nests] back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but what has happened since then is that they have gotten old,” says Terry. “They have become rotten and many of those need replacing. This has now been going on for seven years and I have now been a part of 118 builds. We have an incredible group of volunteers who are always ready and willing to get out there no matter the weather or how difficult the nest is to reach to make sure we can build or repair a nest. The great thing is that when you build a platform you have instant results. You can see it in the two hours it takes to repair or build a nest.”
APCH is located in Killingworth and is most appreciative of monetary donations. Feeding raptors is expensive and the nest platforms are not cheap either, so every dollar helps in its efforts. Donations can also be made to help build and repair osprey nests via the organization.
“Christine and her facility are just incredible. She and her volunteers perform a very important task. We do don’t do it for money, it’s about the love for our environment,” Terry says.
For more information about the array of programs and presentations available from ASPCH, alternatives to rodenticides, or to donate, call 203-804-3453 or email hope4raptors@yahoo.com. APCH is located at 154 Pond Meadow Road in Killingworth.