Message from the President

As 2024 winds down, I'm looking back and taking stock of the year, as many folks do.This has been a year of tremendous change for me personally; my father-in-law passed away in April, my husband retired in May, and my son got married in July. Whether I want to deal with it or not, events and people and life have swept me up in a vortex of change.

Part of me believes that adapting to change, whether quickly or slowly, may be one of the keys to my emotional as well as physical health. Doesn't mean I always like it, however! A friend of mine who is a world-renowned expert in training eagles frequently reminds me that everything with eagles takes longer, and progresses more slowly. Keeping that in mind, and trying to be patient with both the humans and the raptors in my life usually keeps me grounded, up to a point.

Barring that, however, my answer is always to get outside. I heard today that most Americans spend 93% of their time indoors. I'm grateful that I'm not one of them, but still, I struggle to find the time some days to be outdoors because I want to, not because I have to. Despite the fact that of course it does take place indoors, I encourage all of our local members and friends to visit us at the International Sportsmen's Exposition at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver next month. It's a giant celebration of life outdoors, and a great opportunity to see our raptors up close.

Happy New Year everyone...let's vow to spend more time outside in 2025!~Anne Price, President

A Few REF History Links

 White House Visit, Colorado’s First Environmental License Plates, Best Raptor Book Ever,  Our Raptors Cruise to Alaska, Consulting on National Memorial Sculpture, US Naval War College Special Program, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Birds of Prey International Skiing Championships, International Falconry Festival, National Geographic, State & County Fairs,  Natural Solutions Consulting Services

World Champions at Birds of Prey

After not being able to race last year, this year Mother Nature handed us a giant sundae, with whipped cream, sprinkles, AND a cherry on top! For the first time, the women raced down the world-famous Birds of Prey course, the third steepest in the World Cup circuit, and proved they are every bit as tenacious and talented as the men who raced December 6-8th. We even had a female helicopter pilot during the Women's weekend (December 14-15th), and of course, our female bald eagle for both weekends, tipping the scales this year at 14 pounds. It's such an honor to participate in this world-class athletic event, and to work with such a talented group of staff and volunteers year after year.

Thank you to the Vail Valley Foundation, Stifel Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup, FIS Alpine Skiing,

Beaver Creek Mountain, the Talon Crew, the Raptor Security Crew and Moving Mountains!

Returning to Rancho Primavera

Peter's made another year-end visit to a birding destination hot spot; Rancho Primavera is located a little more than an hour south of Puerto Vallarta and just a few minutes from the tiny town of El Tuito. Here you will find an old cattle ranch which has been slowly transitioned into a bird sanctuary. Stay tuned for more!

It's Official

The bald eagle has now been officially designated as the national bird of the United States! Go figure? For those of you who always thought the bald eagle was the national bird, the species was really the national symbol. The piece of legislation naming the bald was missing. Believe it or not, we have a national flower: the rose. The national tree? The oak. And most fittingly, the American bison is the national animal.

We too, were surprised to learn that the bald eagle wasn't "officially" the national bird. Anne received a letter last August asking for online support via signature to press the legislation forward, which was a bipartisan effort by two representatives and two senators. All but one were from Minnesota (and they definitely know a thing or two about bald eagles), with the remaining senator being Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming. Our female bald eagle, also from Wyoming, heartily approves!

YouTube Request!

For those of you enjoying the videos posted on our channel, we very much appreciate your viewership. If you like what we're doing, please subscribe and please post comments! The latter improves our status with YouTube analytics in several key areas, and when we get to 1,000 subscribers, we can benefit from advertising revenues. Right now, we get no financial support from any of the promo pieces that appear with our videos.

Additionally, if you forward our YouTube videos to people that are of the avian inclination, our subscriber base will grow faster. Thank you for your support! ~Peter Reshetniak, Director of Special Projects

A Special Anniversary Offer on All Three of Our Books!

Celebrate our 45th anniversary by purchasing our

three books at this special price!

Just click

Help Our Book Fly Higher:

Order Today!

Winner of the 2020 Skipping Stones Honor Award for Nature and Ecology Books

Reviews

“A unique book aimed at introducing young and beginning birders to the world of raptors. . . . creative for certain! Helpful, too.”–Jim Williams, Wingnut Blog, Minneapolis Star Tribune



“A very cool new book.”–Doc Kirby, On The Bookshelf

“Bird enthusiasts of all ages will find this book full of educational fun.”–Skipping Stones

“Beautiful, educational coloring book.”–Katie L.Burke, American Scientist

“All the essays were well-written and provided lots of easy-to-understand information, which allows the reader to identify many different types of raptors. I also really enjoyed the further reading at the back of the book about the kestrel box. The instructions were clear-cut, and the activity was easy and fun to do.”–Hannah, age thirteen, Kids’ BookBuzz

Orders Here! Or you may order on Amazon. Peek Inside

Read more about the author and the illustrator.

Special thanks to The Kroenke Group & THF Realty for extending our lease at very affordable rates for the next 5 years. Support like this ensures we will make it through these challenging times.

Thanks to our past and future partners, THF Prairie Center Development, L.L.C., THF Prairie Center Investors, L.L.C. and the City of Brighton, for creating the best intersection in Colorado just a minute or two north of our headquarters!

As the new villages grow at Prairie Center, so do the streets with cool names! Check out some of the street names!

WISH LIST

We're still looking for a gently-used, 20-25 foot RV (Class C) that would serve as a mobile office for traveling programs around Colorado and farther away. Or maybe you have an SUV or pickup truck you would like to donate? We can put it to good use! Please give our office a call if you have a vehicle you think we could use!

(303) 680-8500

Thank you!

Raptor Chronicles

Previous Issues Archived Here

Just in case you've missed any issues, we currently have issues dating back to January 2020.

Join the 85 Families Helping Our Raptor Sanctuary

Help Us Reach 100 Supporting Families!

Jeff Wang's Raptor Captures

Welcome to another installment of Winter Raptor Fun! We're calling this one Fabulous Frigid Falcons, featuring the three most common falcons of the winter Colorado prairies. These first two, the prairie falcon (above) and the merlin (below), often compete with each other at feedlots, dairies, etc., preying on the starlings and blackbirds which invade the large agricultural operations. Hunting both birds and mammals, prairie falcons live in some of the driest and harshest environments in North America, and are found only in the Great Basin of the west. The most commonly-seen race or subspecies of merlin in Colorado is the "prairie" race (not confusing at all!?), formerly known as the "Richardson's" merlin: Falco columbarius richardsonii.

These small (about 6-7 ounces) graceful and gutsy falcons are found world-wide in the northern hemisphere, and definitely punch above their weight class when it comes to the prey they hunt. While sparrows and other small songbirds make up the bulk of their diet, they can also bring down quail, doves and even pigeons their own size.

Next, Jeff captured the very smallest falcon in North America (and one of the smallest in the world) letting his MUCH larger cousin, the prairie falcon, know that this is HIS territory, and he (suspected male prairie) needs to leave! One of the best things about the photo below, is that you can easily judge the scale and size of the prairie falcon against the male kestrel, who has about a 12-14 inch wingspan, and weighs about 120 grams (about 4.2 ounces).

The prairie seems shocked that the kestrel is still on his six...anyone who's watched the territorial behavior of kestrels, however knows they are tenacious and FEARLESS. Thanks again, Jeff!!

Introducing a New Guest Photographer

One of our fabulous Raptor Team volunteers at this year's Birds of Prey World Cup was Rick Spitzer, who also revealed to us his superb skills as a photographer of wild things on the western side of the Rockies. The gorgeous photo of the peregrine above is his! Rick is a Colorado native, with a degree in biology and taught high-school science and photography for 17 years. During his time as a teacher he also worked summers as a Supervisory Park Ranger Naturalist in Rocky Mountain National Park. He had one of the first computers in his school district and worked as a school district technology director for 16 years. His technology and photography background allowed him to move easily into digital photography.

Rick has written the book Colorado Mountain Passes, published by Westcliffe Publishers. He also authored and self-published the book "Focus on Photography: A Simple Guide to Better Pictures.” He's also a member of the Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable. From time to time, we will show you more of Rick's raptor photos, and you may visit his website to see more of his photographic talents.

In addition to the United States of America, our Facebook followers are found in the following countries:

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama,

Russia, Spain, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Automatic Monthly Donations: Thanks to everyone who has set up a monthly donation via PayPal. We have people from both coasts, a few states in the middle and in Colorado contributing automatic monthly pledges...thank you all!

REF Staff: Anne Price, President & Curator; Peter Reshetniak, Founder & Director of Special Projects; Savannah Grout, Mews Manager

Docents & Volunteers: Kristy Bortz, Clarissa Cigrand, Megan Considine, Kevin Corwin, Karen Gonzalez, Kim Kistler, Linda Julia, Jennifer McAllister, Denis Murray, Karen Ogle, Anne Price, Jennifer Redmond, Peter Reshetniak, Beverly Rice, Mitch Skinner and Ann Stanz

Docents in Training: Robert Mitchell, and Peggy Plaus