Ziibi the eagle, Becker the owl and Darwin the turkey vulture want to spread their wings.
Wye Marsh has embarked on a new fundraiser towards the reconstruction of the birds of prey building. The existing building still meets regulations but is at its end of life, said Johanna Rumney, animal care coordinator.
The non-profit facility houses raptors that have been injured or imprinted by humans and can no longer live in the wild.
The bald eagle Ziibi is six years old. In captivity, she could live to be 60 years old. She has a permanent injury to her right eye and because of that she doesn't have the sense of depth she would need to hunt in the wild, said Rumney.
"The enclosure she has right now is adequate but we want her to have more space to enrich herself, fly around, have multiple places to explore and a higher vantage point," said Rumney, while Ziibi was calling out from her enclosure.
"Ziibi is very intelligent and very social. She has one of the highest needs of all the birds, so this is a big part of why we are doing this. It originally started that we just wanted to build a bigger enclosure for her but we thought we might as well build multiple enclosures," said Rumney.
Kim Hacker, executive director of Wye Marsh, said bald eagles are increasing in population in Ontario and Ziibi is a bird ambassador.
"And she's culturally relevant in the Anishinaabe culture. They have the seven grandfather teachings and the eagle teaches love," said Hacker. "And we want to give that back to her."
There are three main buildings in the raptor area. The main outdoor building currently houses seven raptors and is the one that needs to be replaced. The idea is to house five birds of prey in the new building, on the same footprint, where each enclosure is larger, Rumney explained.
There is also an indoor building with six enclosures for birds that need more insulation from the winter weather and there's the weathering yard building that gives the birds a second place to roost other than their enclosures.
Wye Marsh currently has 13 birds but hopes to share two with another educational facility and keep 11. The number is limited as staff are limited to one full-time, one part-time and five volunteers.
"We are working to improve the enrichment and the time spent inside and outside the enclosure," said Rumney.
Hacker estimates the cost for the project to be $250,000.
Wye Marsh is working with the Canada Wildlife Service, which is the approval agency. Hacker said they are applying for grants and hope to raise money from the general public as well.
Anyone who donates more than $1,000 will get a private tour and time with the birds as a special recognition of support.
Construction is expected to begin next fall.
"If we can get the money we will start sooner," said Hacker. "We want to build as quickly as possible as we will have homeless birds," said Hacker. They may make some makeshift enclosures and move the birds temporarily during construction.
To make a donation to build the Bird Embassy, click here. Or for more information, email [email protected].
