Long winter hard on birds of prey

Winter just didn’t want to give up this year, and that’s been hard of birds of prey. The younger ones especially are being found and turned in to animal rescue centres.

Pathologist Doug Campbell, from Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre in Guelph says the younger ones lack experience to catch food especially in difficult conditions.

The bird’s reserves of fat and energy run out by spring and they need to find prey to survive, but the long winter with an unusual amount of late snow has meant food such as mice have stayed dormant.

During a 24-hour span this week, three hawks and two owls were brought to Wings Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Amherstburg, Ont., south of Windsor. Nancy Phillips who cares for the birds says…

We need to get them as soon as people spot them on the ground. Some are so weak they can’t eat on their own.

At the wildlife centre the birds are fed by hand up to eight times a day on a diet of mild beef, seasoned with vitamins.

Environment Canada says this February, Ontario received two to three times the normal amount of snow, which still covers many parts of the province. Usually by March the snow is gone in most of the province by mid to late March.

(mm with files from cbc)

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