Before I founded CRC, I was the raptor curator for a local nature center. I had spent
over
two years renovating and caring for the captive display birds and I loved my
job and the birds at the center but the demand made on my time as a wildlife
rehabilitator was increasing as more people came to know me and began to bring
injured birds to my home. I did not know how I could manage the raptor program
where I worked and rehab birds at the same time. During
the same time a very dear friend of mine lost her son. He was young, strong
and had a fantastic sense of humor. Jeffrey used to help me when
I began to work with birds of prey and was doing a lot of physical labor
making cage repairs; his sense of humor and irony would often have me in stitches.
When he died a great sadness gripped the community. The day my husband and I
paid our respects to his family a red-tailed hawk flew overhead and let out the
familiar cry anyone who works with these birds recognizes. I remember being touched
by how it flew majestically overhead and how beautiful and inspiring he looked
in contrast to the sadness of the day. When I returned home I received an email
from a person on one of the raptor list serves I belong to. She wrote about how
she had admitted a small male red-tail that now needed a home because she thought
he would make a good education bird.Inspired by the red-tail hawk at Jeffrey's funeral I decided to write and tell her that I would be willing to take this bird but I was very frank about the fact I did not yet have my federal education license nor had I built my facility!!! A daunting prospect!! She wrote me back several days later and said she would wait for me. This red-tail helped me make my decision to do raptor rehabilitation full time. In addition to building my outdoor mews I set up a raptor rehabilitation clinic in my home. I set up the wildlife education programs to help support my work and to teach others about what I do and how they can help the environment and these magnificent birds of prey. For the next three months I was very busy designing and building the mew for my resident birds.
In October, permits in hand I drove out to Kentucky to retrieve the two screech owls who would come to be part of my wildlife ed program, Linus and Lucille and to get Bobbio, my energetic American Kestrel. While in KY I received an email from the person in MI saying she was concerned that the red-tail had molted into his adult feathers and had "wilded" up. She was worried he would no longer make a suitable education bird and his personality had changed. I called to tell her I respected her opinion and that if she felt this was the case I was fine with her decision but I also told her I believed this bird was supposed to come and be part of my program, that in fact it was because of him that I took the steps to go out on my own. Without going into this long explanation I told her I trusted her opinion. Resolved that my husband and I would not have to make the trip to Ohio I was surprised to later get a call from this woman stating that an unusual thing had occurred the day before and she was willing to transfer the red-tail on trial to see how he did with day to day training. What had happened was several friends of friends had shown up out of the blue to visit her clinic and while they were there she took the little male red-tail out of his cage and he sat on glove very well and he rested his leg and even freaked while on glove. This made her rethink her doubts about the bird and so the transfer was on!!
Much to my husband Bill's disappointment, the following day we drove up to the agreed meeting place along the Ohio Turnpike and exchanged the red-tail. He was a little fractious but it was understandable considering his long ride to meet us. After the transfer this person hugged me and I gave her a small hand carved wooden statue of a red-tail. Her eyes welled up and she whispered to me, " If things work out with this bird I will tell you why I changed my mind and agreed to transfer him on trial to you". The ride home was uneventful and the following few weeks were a challenge working with the birds, making their new equipment and training them. The red-tail who by now I had named Jeffrey was a challenge and he taught me more about animal training than if I had had an easy-going bird. He taught me to trust my instincts and to always read the bird and change course when necessary, to not be rigid in my training but flexible and responsive to the needs of the bird.
After two months I wrote to the woman who I had gotten Jeffrey from and told her he was no longer on trial that we had developed a great relationship and that I could not imagine my life as an educator without him. She replied by saying, "Teresa, tomorrow I will tell you why I decided to transfer him to you." The following day I read her beautiful story. She wrote was that she was, had been, the mother of two children. She said that she had a son who had shared her love and passion for birds of prey and their favorite birds were the red-tail and turkey vultures (my favorites too). She said she lost her son three years before and that the day I told her I could meet her was her son's birthday. She said she wasn't a "goopy" person but that since they had loved red-tails so much she wanted to give this bird a second chance. We met on her son's birthday and that is how Jeffrey came to me. She also wrote that her son's name was Jeffrey. As I sat at my computer reading her letter I realized that the Jeffrey who had originally inspired me to go out on my own and start my clinic and education program was only part of the story and that the road my friend Dody had traveled to heal and eventually transfer the red-tail to me was the first part of the journey for him. One thing I am certain of is that my red-tailed hawk is named Jeffrey for both of these inspiring young men and I am so glad to have him in my program!!
The universe is an amazing place and you can't make these things up even if you tried!!!
Teresa Kramer