One in a series of essays about the author’s volunteer work at the Raptor Refuge Center in Bellevue, Nebraska. Links to the others are below.
Winter imposes its arrival on the edge of the Great Plains in varying ways. Bees and other pollinators hibernate. Many bird species migrate. Squirrels foray across branches from well-stocked larders. Deer and larger mammals search for food in daylong twilight. Feral cats prey on dumpsters and human generosity.
To humans, except the least fortunate, winter is more inconvenience than threat. Our beloved domestic pets share our luxurious status.
As do residents of the Raptor Wildlands Refuge. Some species, of course, remain outside in all weather. Bald eagles and Great Horned and Barred owls stoically shake off the cold. Mesa, the ferruginous hawk with legs feathered to her talons, does, too.
But not Ozzie the Osprey, who should be visiting Central America, or Danika the Swainson’s Hawk with her featherless shanks. Or many other refuge raptors.
They winter behind closed doors, away from the viewing public. They receive care, food and cleaning like always, but they’re in much smaller spaces with less elbow room and limited views.
Human visits plummet during the cold, wishing, like the shut-aways, for longer, warmer days.
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