Since 2004 we have maintained a special relationship with the Bird Rescue Center in Sonoma County: we are approved to raise and release orphaned birds of prey (raptors).  The Bird Rescue Center receives owls or hawks that have been separated and cannot be reunited from their nest and parents.  This may be as a result of natural occurrences such as wind storms, heat exposure, or the death of the parents.  It may also be the result of human action such as tree cutting or building demolition.  If these orphans are too young to survive on their own, they come to us.  We have received birds as young as a few days old, who needed to be held and fed with tweezers, to birds a few days away from flight.

Raising young raptors is also known as “hacking”.  We’ve placed three hacking boxes in the trees surrounding the vineyard:  these boxes simulate a nest site, and we feed the young birds until they are old enough and strong enough to begin to fly and hunt on their own.  When the birds are ready to be released, we open the hacking boxes and watch them fly.  Typically, in the wild, the parents will continue feeding the young as they establish territory and hone their hunting skills; on the vineyard, this job falls on us, and we continue to place food in or near the hacking box until the young birds no longer require supplemental feeding.

With the hawks, this is usually a very short time, and they soon gain independence and fly to establish territory in the surrounding landscape. We often see the hawks flying and hunting nearby when we are working in the vineyard, and several nesting pairs have formed.

The owls, on the other hand, consider the vineyard their home, returning to the hacking box and the surrounding trees throughout the entire year, long after we have stopped providing food.  At times  as many as eight to ten owls will arrive almost simultaneously at dusk.  What a treat to be sitting outside sipping a glass of wine when they arrive.  They communicate with screeches and wails throughout the night as they announce their presence.

In addition to the hacking boxes, we have placed 4 nesting boxes in the trees, and are now treated to seeing owls that we have released return, find mates, and rear their own young.