2022 Building Project

Construction of flight / exercise areas for small raptors

The core piece of SOAR’s mission is to provide raptor rehabilitation. The final step in a bird’s recovery efforts is to spend time in an appropriate-sized flight enclosure for flight conditioning and strength training. SOAR needs to build two new flight enclosures for our smallest raptors (American kestrels and Eastern screech owls).

Current National Wildlife Rehabilitation Association minimum standards for an unlimited activity enclosure for small owls and falcons is 8’ wide x 16’ long x 8’ high. While admits to SOAR change year-to-year, the average number of kestrels and screech owls for the last few years has seen an increase. SOAR needs additional space for this critical, final phase of rehabilitation to accommodate increased need. Current kestrel and screech owl flight conditioning areas are aging and in need of replacement.

We are working on grant applications and year-end fundraising to cover the approximate $18,000 for these two structures. The structures are pre-fab buildings similar to the freezer building that SOAR added in 2019. The plan is to start with site prep, get the buildings ordered, placed on site and finished by September 1, 2022.