Education, research, rehabilitation efforts take flight at Macbride Raptor Project

	Jodeane Cancilla, project assistant with the Macbride Raptor Project, points out a broken bone in an x-ray image to UI biology major Luke Hart. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

Over the years, the Macbride Raptor Project has rehabilitated a variety of birds of prey: a rough-legged hawk that collided with power lines; a falcon that was tangled in barbed wire; a broad-winged hawk that suffered a gunshot wound; and dozens of owls, ospreys, vultures, and eagles that have been threatened by various forms of human activity.

But on a recent day, Jodeane Cancilla arrives at the Macbride Nature Recreation Area with a mourning dove that has gotten tangled in a fence after high winds.

“We try to help all wildlife,” explains Cancilla, project assistant with the Macbride Raptor Project. “Although the dove isn’t a bird of prey, they’re all related.”

New raptors—and, occasionally, other birds—come in daily to the project, which is jointly sponsored by The University of Iowa and Kirkwood Community College. Cancilla, one of two full-time staff members, divides her time between Macbride Nature Recreation Area—where 15 permanently disabled raptors are housed—and Kirkwood’s Animal Health Technologies medical clinic—where injured birds receive treatment when they first arrive.

Founded in 1985, the project cares for as many as 180 birds a year, and about half are returned to the wild. After evaluation and care on Kirkwood’s Cedar Rapids campus, birds that have a chance for recovery are transferred to a 100-foot-long flight cage at Macbride, where they are released once a day to stretch their wings, monitored, and eventually released to the wild. Those birds left crippled by their injuries are placed with zoos, nature centers, and other licensed facilities.

Project staff members band many of the birds that are returned to the wild, allowing them to study migratory patterns and survival. They also monitor Iowa’s highly successful American kestrel nest-box program, in which manmade boxes are affixed to the backs of highway signs statewide, replacing what has become a shrinking habitat for the small falcon.

Other projects include the osprey introduction program, begun in 1997, and a peregrine falcon reintroduction program. Both aim to increase the numbers of the bird populations in the state, which had been decimated by a loss of habitat.

Raptors with injuries that prevent them from returning to the wild serve as a vital part of the project’s education efforts. Visitors can see the amazing 7-and-a-half-foot wingspan of a golden eagle; hear the call of a great horned owl; appreciate the role that raptors play in the ecosystem; and understand the toll of human activity.

The population of permanently disabled birds at the project is aging—the oldest bird has been in the project's care for 21 years—a testament to the quality of care they have received, Cancilla says. In addition to the two staff members and a work-study student, a large, dedicated group of volunteers has provided valuable support to the project, she says.

Macbride Raptor Project staff and volunteers educate about 350 groups a year, from preschoolers to Audubon societies. And visitors are welcome anytime the center is open.

“An important component of our work is inspiring the next generation to have a love and concern for raptors,” Cancilla says. “We hope visitors come away with a deep appreciation and respect for them.”

UI faculty teaching courses in biology and ecology frequently use the project as a teaching tool. But other programs and departments have taken advantage of the resource, from the Writers’ Workshop for nature writing exercises to physics courses for studying the physics of flight.

“Faculty are only limited by their own imagination,” Cancilla says. “We can find ways to fit into just about any subject.”

by Madelaine Jerousek-Smith