raptor

Baby season—the peak reproductive months for local raptors, falling roughly between February and August—is always one of the busiest times at the California Raptor Center. Staff and volunteers expect to be bustling about the facility, working long hours in the heat of the summer to care for the inevitable influx of baby raptors. It is an annual, anticipated challenge, but 2020 presented a whole new set of hardships on top of the norm: with a global pandemic that led to lockdowns and closures in early spring, the CRC faced baby season with only a skeleton crew of essential staff.

Many people begin the New Year with resolutions to hit the gym, but for the California Raptor Center’s first patient of the year, a visit to a Woodland gymnasium turned into a days-long saga and rescue operation.