CONTACT:  Wendy V. Long, Public Relations

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Chester students up close and personal—with raptors!

Chester – “How do the male eagles impress the female eagles?” asked second grade student Camryn Rock.

“That’s a GREAT question,” responded bird of prey rehabilitation expert Tom Ricardi, during a visit to Chester Elementary School with a few of the 70 – 100 birds he cares for at the Massachusetts Bird of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway. 

Ricardi went on to explain that the male bald eagle will likely select a pine bough from a tree, and fly past a female bald eagle with the branch in his grasp.  She would then follow him up into the air, and he would eventually pass the branch to her.

Ricardi even has a male bald eagle at the center who can no longer fly, but still uses this same courtship behavior.  “He can only walk, and he searches for the perfect stick, picks it up in his beak, and carries it to a female.” And they repeat this ritual over and over again.

Which might explain why American Bald Eagles build the largest nests of all birds.

It was all part of a “Birds of Prey” program at Chester Elementary School on January 30th.  Ricardi brought a number of birds, including the smallest variety of owl in New England (the Northern Saw-Whet Owl); the largest owl in the Northeast (Great Horned Owl), a Snowy Owl, a Turkey Vulture, a Red-Tailed Hawk, and an American Bald Eagle.

The presentation also featured a number of materials, such as a comparison of features and eggs between the condor and ostrich (the two largest bird species) and a hummingbird (the smallest).

In showing his great horned owl, Ricardi asked students for the qualities of an owl.  “They have big eyes.”  “They hoot.”  “They have real good hearing.”  Ricardi told students that if human eyes were on the same scale as owl eyes, our eyes would be the size of baseballs.

The Chester Parent Teacher Organization paid for the presentation, which took place in two sessions: one for Pre-K through Grade 2 students, the second for grades 3 and 4. 

Ricardi shows a Great Horned Owl to students, staff and visitors at Chester Elementary School

Ricardi uses this funding to support the rehabilitation center, whose residents eat 500 – 600 mice and 15 pounds of fish every day. A licensed raptor rehabilitator, Ricardi is also raising eagles in captivity.  In the wild, a nesting eagle will lay two eggs, one week apart. One bird is born a week sooner than the other, and can use that advantage to secure more food than its sibling.  Ricardi removes the second egg to an incubator; when it has hatched, he uses an “eagle puppet” to feed the young bird so that it does not bond to him.

Ricardi with a Bald Eagle, on January 30th at Chester Elementary School.

In the final part of his program, Ricardi advised students to not touch a baby bird if they encounter

one that has fallen from its nest. He explained that most baby birds have no scent, and may remain unnoticed by predators as long as they are not touched by humans.