Rehab & Release
SOAR provides care for well over 300 birds each year that have been injured or orphaned, primarily from western Iowa.
Q&A: raptor admits, releases, and more
When is SOAR going to release the Decorah area eaglets? How does SOAR evaluate patients for release? How do these birds fit back into the environment? First, we should talk about how sick and injured raptors get to SOAR! SOAR receives the injured birds (usually after several phone calls, text messages, and photos to assess
Thanks to a ‘village,’ female bald eagle flies free again
An adult bald eagle admitted 15 February 2019 to SOAR was reported to Winneshiek County (Iowa) dispatch by MANY people driving Pole Line Road west of Decorah. Thank you to everyone for caring enough to make a phone call. On 27 June 2019, this bald eagle was released in Winneshiek County to fly wild once
Determining Gender in Bald Eagles
As part of ongoing data collection looking at bald eagles and lead exposure in birds admitted to wildlife rehabilitators in Iowa, SOAR started collecting beak depth measurements. A research paper from Garcelon et al (Journal of Wildlife Management 49(3):1985) is the basis for SOAR to use beak depth measurement for a gender determination. The Garcelon
Black flies once again torment
Black flies are also called buffalo gnats because the very tiny fly (5-15 mm) has a humped thoracic region that might look like the hump on a buffalo / bison. Black flies are true flies (Order Diptera) and classified in the family Simuliidae. I learned, during the 2018 black fly season, from a University of
An update on D32
What an eventful week! On Saturday, the other eaglet – D32 that was rescued on Friday 7 June – from the nest near the Decorah Fish Hatchery was transported to SOAR. D32 had excellent care on Friday evening and Saturday morning from Raptor Resource Project board member and veterinarian Laura. D32 spent several days evading
DN9 is also at SOAR
This hatch-year (HY19) bald eagle – DN9 – from the Decorah North Nest and famous from the Raptor Resource Project (RRP) nest camera fell to the ground under the nest on 6 June. RRP board member, Dave K, was able to locate and rescue this eaglet on 7 June. DN9 was transported to SOAR on
D33 arrives at SOAR
The hatch-year (HY19) bald eagle from the nest near the Decorah Fish Hatchery and famous from the Raptor Resource Project nest camera tumbled to the ground under the nest on 5 June. Hatchery staff were alerted and the juvenile was safely retrieved and taken to the hatchery. Also on 5 June, this eaglet began the
SOAR Wins Award for Excellence in Environmental Education
Saving Our Avian Resources Wins Award for Excellence in Environmental Education The Iowa Association of Naturalists (IAN) and the Iowa Conservation Education Coalition (ICEC) are proud to award Saving Our Avian Resources (SOAR) with an IAN/ICEC Award for Excellence in Environmental Education. The award is the Frederic Leopold Environmental Education Award for outstanding environmental education
Update on projects
With the 2018 fundraising season soon to be upon us, we wanted to share with you the progress on “capital” projects from the 2017 fundraiser! With funds from the 2017 year-end fundraising, a stand-alone 10’ x 20’ x 9’ mew (hawk house) was constructed. This hawk house will be for a future education ambassador, as
Support from Avangrid Foundation
The Avangrid Foundation, Inc., in collaboration with Avangrid Renewables, is partnering with SOAR to help build a much needed food storage building! The Avangrid Foundation grant will help SOAR build a separate stand-alone structure to house all the food storage freezers and food prep area — removing these from the intensive care area of the