Wrightwood Raptor Center

03/28/2026

Wednesday we were called about an adult great horned owl that was picked up by animal control in hesperia. It was lethargic and not doing well when it was picked up, but had perked up by the time our driver got to where the poor girl was being kept. In an initial inspection, Charles found nothing wrong with the wings, legs, or keel, but when he opened the mouth to check for trounce, he noticed several bright blood red splotches on the tongue and other parts of the mouth. That’s a good indication that she had eaten a rodent that had been poisoned with anticoagulant rodenticide. Secondary poisoning is one of the big things we find in birds of prey. Poisoning may seem like the easier way to control pests, but it has a very bad impact on other wildlife.

By the time he picked up the bird, Bearpaw ranch was already closed up after a really busy day with a bunch of owlets and other birds in their care, so he took her home and kept an eye on her through the night. Thursday he was able to get her out there and Kandie and he gave the bird a vitamin k treatment. Last we saw her she was alert, the bloody patches had receded, but the mouth was really pale. That can be a bad sign, but her attitude gives us hope that she’s a fighter and will pull through.

03/27/2026

03/27/2026

I know we’ve been silent for a while, we’re trying to organize our social media posts.

Holy busy weekend this past weekend folks. Our President, the one who does most of our transporting, was in Vegas this past weekend doing a fund raising event for another educational non profit he volunteers for. Just before he left he picked up a baby great horned owls in Joshua Tree and transported it to Kandie Barnett Cansler at Bear Paw Ranch Wildlife Rehabilitation Resource & Information Site Oak Glen.

The very next day, while he was driving up to Vegas for the event, the same person called him about another bird out of the nest. Luckily, the finder was able to safely transport the serving bird to Kandie as well. That same day someone posted about another baby owl on the ground in Hesperia. After a bunch of suggestions as to where it should be taken were made, Kandie was able to send another of her transporters to pick it up.

On Saturday our president, Charles was contacted about two more owlets on the ground in Hesperia. Another member of our board of directors was able to pick those birds up and care for them for a couple of days until they could be transported to Kandie at Bear paw ranch on Monday.

Also on Saturday, another woman called our president distraught about 3 owlet that fell out of the nest in Yucca Valley. He was still in Vegas, and had difficulty arranging transport. She was able to get a neighbor to put the birds back in the nest, but on Sunday one was back on the ground. Our president decided to come home early, meaning late Sunday night instead of Monday. After finally getting to Yucca Valley to pick up that bird, he was able to get it to Kandie also. That one had an extremely bad infestation of “bird flies” in its left ear hole. The finder (a nurse) flushed out a small handful of larvae before our president got there, then after getting the poor little thing to bear paw ranch, he and ksndie flushed and removed 9 more big maggots and a clump of tiny writhing ones. I’m including pics of the 2 babies that our board member transported, and a pic of the maggot riddled owlet. The image of the maggoty one is disturbing, but now that it’s cleaned out, we’re hopeful for a complete recovery. That ear hole should close up before the bird is old enough to fly.

11/22/2025

Picked up a peregrine falcon today in Apple Valley. Was told when I was called that it had a broken wing. When I got there, sadly the wing is entirely gone. I don’t know what happened to this poor beautiful guy, but in my 16 years working with raptors, the only other time I’ve seen injuries like these it came from one of those decorative old fashioned windmills. I get it, they look nostalgic, I grew up in the Midwest and there’s the whole wizard of Oz aesthetic, but please, if you have one of these and it’s not actually generating electricity, pumping water, or grinding grain, fix the blades so they don’t spin and take off a bird’s wing.

10/09/2025

Picked up a Northern flicker this morning. He apparently has an injured wing, and possibly hip or leg. He was transported to The Pond Digger Ranch Wildlife Rehabilitation for better assessment and treatment.

06/22/2025

This is a very good medical reason why you need to be license to rehabilitate wildlife. The licensing process ensures that you have the proper Knowledge of biochemistry to ensure healthy bone and muscle development in young animals of all kinds.

There are also many social development issues. Young animals are easy to imprint making them impossible to release into the wild. Imprinting is when the animal learns that humans are the source of food, so even if they get released, they’ll not hunt or forage on their own, they’ll hang out around humans until they are either fed or starve to death waiting for food.

06/21/2025

Last week we took in a barn owl who had frounce. After a few days of treatment he was ready to be released. This is the video of his release taken on Wednesdayesday

Interestingly, yesterday he was on the ground again. I picked him up. He seems a little thin. We’re fattening him up in preparation to release him again, hopefully Sunday night.

01/11/2025

Yesterday I was called out to Hesperia Animal shelter to pick up a prairie falcon that had been shot in the wing. It appears to have just gone through the skin and muscle in front of the wing bone. We’ll know for sure after x-rays. That’s happening on Tuesday.

Be aware that shooting a bird of prey is federal felony that comes with a jail sentence and a minimum $10,000 fine.
If raptors are harassing your livestock or pets, there are steps you can take to have the bird legally and humanely trapped and then relocated.

But there’s also an update on Bones!

Bones will be released later today.

12/31/2024

Update on both this peregrine, and Bones, the red tailed hawk:

Sadly, this girl is not improving and is in fact getting worse. This indicates that the cause is likely eating poisoned rodents. Please, find an alternative to poison and rodenticides. They are much more harmful to our ecosystem than the companies want us to know. Unfortunately, this girl is going to have to be euthanized.

On a positive note, Bones is doing fantastically. He has fattened up and has been moved into a preflight chamber to see how his wing is healing. As long as his wing heals well enough for him to fly and hunt, he’ll be able to be released.

12/24/2024

Just spoke with the rehabber working with the peregrine I picked up in Hinkley yesterday. She said that the bird survived the night and is showing a very small amount of improvement. She’s still got her head twisted up, but it’s a little better today than it was yesterday.

She also works closely with the woman rehabbing Bones. He’s doing very well now with appetite and eating. We won’t know how his wing is healing until his weight comes up and he can take some test flights. However, he doesn’t seem to be favoring it.

12/24/2024

I was called out to a solar energy farm in Hinkley to pick up this big female peregrine. When I got there she was standing on the ground with her head upside down and twitching around like she was trying to figure out which way was up. The attached video was part of my exam to see what kind of first aid she might need in order to safely transport her to a rehab center. While she’s on her back her head is twitching a little, but when she was upright and on her feet it was much worse and her beak was above her eyes(birds necks twist in weird ways). I’ll add a pic in the first comment.

There are several common causes for this. One is “stargazing” a situation where the bird is low in vitamin B or vitamin D. Sunlight, rest, and supplementation can help with this.

Another is Torticollis which can be caused by head trauma, but can also be caused by West Nile virus.

It could also be electrocutio, considering where she was found, but there were no evident burn marks that she would have gotten by shunting power lines. I’m fairly certain she wasn’t electrocuted.

Sadly it could also be from eating prey affected by rodenticides. This is very common.

Given how and what falcons hunt, I’m thinking that the most likely culprit is head trauma.