Rehab Center protects birds of prey

Horizon Wings is on a quest to save Connecticut's environment, one raptor at a time.

Horizon Wings is a rehabilitation program for injured raptors, or birds of prey, from the area. The center is located 15 minutes away from campus in Ashford, Conn. and is run by husband-and-wife team Alan Nordell and Mary-Beth Kaeser. Kaeser and Nordell are involved with various programs at UConn. They displayed their program birds at the Wildlife Club's Cornucopia Fest this fall.

Kaeser, the founder of Horizon Wings, also uses Horsebarn Hill as a site for reintroducing recovered birds into the wild. The wooded boundary provides a good habitat and the fields are full of rabbits, mice and other prey species. Kaeser recently released a red-tailed hawk into the woods by the picnic area at the bottom of the hill. The young hawk had been hit by a car and had suffered a concussion while on its migration route. Before letting it fly free, she tagged its ankle for "conservation purposes." She said that she hopes the juvenile raptor will be able to continue its migration accurately and on time.

Kaeser and Nordell said that the second objective of their program is to educate the community about conservation and biodiversity. Most of the birds that they treat at the center have been harmed due to human influences. Two-thirds of the injured raptors have broken appendages due to collisions with cars, trucks and airplanes. Usually the broken bones never heal and will fuse incorrectly, resulting in amputation or total loss of flight. In other cases, Kaeser said that a family would take in an infant that had fallen out of its nest and had begun to feed it. But, without proper knowledge the family could cause the baby to starve, and in that case, the malnourished bird would be brought into Horizon Wings. Finally, Kaeser said the development of farmland in Connecticut poses a deadly threat to the state's raptor populations. Development of any sort can cause habitat loss, but the destruction of farms takes away hunting locations for the birds of prey. This can cause the birds to gravitate towards eating carrion and road kill, which in turn puts them at a higher risk of being hit by a vehicle.

Kaeser and Nordell use a hands-on approach to teach adults and children about the native raptor species. They are open to giving tours of their facility, which consists of multiple outdoor nesting units, which the two built themselves. Some of their current guests include a kestrel, a broad-winged hawk, a great horned owl, several screech owls and a raven, which has the miraculous ability to talk.

The longest residents at Horizon Wings have been trained to be program birds. This means that they are docile and safe enough to be taken out on excursions with the general public. Kaeser and Nordell often visit schools and farmers' markets to do some fundraising and to get their conservation message across. They believe that education is really the key to helping to save these birds of prey, many of which that are on the Connecticut endangered species list. Nordell said that the peregrine falcon was a good example of how a bird can recover from being at the brink of extinction. Only a few decades ago peregrines were almost completely wiped out due to the DDT pesticide, but now, because of government regulations on DDT and public awareness, the species has made a giant comeback. The peregrine falcon has recently been removed from Connecticut's endangered species list and many thriving nesting sites are being monitored around the state.

Kaeser and Nordell contribute a lot of time, labor and monetary support to the Horizon Wings program. They attempt to raise money through fundraising events but they are always open to donations so that they can expand their wildlife services. A list of other accepted donations, such as tools and cleaning supplies, can be found on the program's Web site at www.horizonwings.org.

Kaeser and Nordell look for student helpers to volunteer at the center as well, especially in the spring when there is a high inflow of baby birds. Horizon Wings is the only rehabilitation center in the area and therefore the program makes a big impact on this community's environment.

Kaeser and Nordell are not only conserving raptor biodiversity, they are conserving entire ecosystems.