Wednesday night’s violent hail storm left its mark on the RMRP.  We sustained minor damage to our outdoor caging – we will need to replace sections of the roof in our Cage Complex that houses our Education Ambassadors, and the Recovery Caging for our active cases.  Fortunately, the damage did not pose an immediate threat to any of the birds that are housed here. We have already responded to three calls about injured birds, and admitted two patients in the first 12 hours after the storm.  A Swainson’s Hawk was found down near Old Town, wet bedraggled, and pummeled by the hail.  A similarly-pummeled turkey vulture was found down in City Park, being chased by dogs.   Hopefully both birds will recover quickly with some R&R and a warm, safe place to recover.

Violent storms are a common cause of injuries to raptors, especially this time of year.  This is our busy season – caring for the many birds we’re admitting from storm or wind-caused injuries, conditioning the baby great horned owls admitted earlier this year, getting them ready for mouse school.  And our public outreach season has started – this weekend we begin our 8-weekend journey to Merry Old England, via the Colorado Renaissance Festival in Larkspur.  This is a great opportunity for us let people know about our important work, and help teach them about the special place that wildlife has in our world.

We cannot do this work without your support.  We need you.  Please help – click here – to help the birds.  And remember – the RMRP is an Enterprise Zone Project.  This means that for all donations $100 or greater, you will receive a credit on your state income tax, worth 25% of your donation.