'Red in tooth and claw'

First of two essays about the author’s volunteer work at the Raptor Refuge Center in Bellevue, Nebraska. The second: “Pea gravel manicure.”

Sparrows chatter and spin as they bathe in my backyard dirt. Their bustle pairs nicely with the rustle of windblown leaves.

The sparrows are relatively safe from predation on my busy corner of 82nd Avenue. But I know how suddenly that could change.

I volunteer at the Raptor Refuge Center just south of Omaha. Twenty disabled owls, eagles and hawks shelter there.

Many were shot on the fly by farmers or with glee. Others, like Helios the Turkey Vulture, were hit by cars while focused on roadkill. Many have wings partially amputated. Several owls have damaged pin feathers and can no longer hunt silently.

I clean their cages of feathers, leaves, dung, fish parts and half-eaten mice. An intruder, I chatter as I rake the pea gravel. Sometimes the raptors reply, other times they noisily flap uneven wings.

They’re fed from a freezer filled with mice, fish, rats and quail breasts. Each bird’s food is rigorously measured to the gram. Utility shears assure compliance.

Small birds aren’t on the menu. Except to my raptors’ free-flying cousins.

Nature gives no security.