GUILDERLAND — Raptors have gotten a bad rap.

Sarah Unger wants to set the record straight on birds of prey.
"If we get to the kids when they’re young," she said after a presentation Tuesday at Farnsworth Middle School, "they’ll know they are not a bad thing."

Unger, who lives in Fulton County, started breeding parrots when she was 12 and has spent the past 18 years enraptured with birds. Most recently, she works as a volunteer with North Country Wild Care, a network of wildlife rehabilitators based in the Adirondacks.
Mary Whipple introduced her to the Farnsworth students as "the bird lady."

Three dozen students — many of them literally on the edge of their seats — listened raptly to Unger as, one by one, she coaxed three different raptors from their towel-draped cages.

The students had stayed after school for the talk. They are members of the Guilderland Animal Protection Society, a club they named themselves.
"I like animals a lot," said sixth-grader Leigha Hall when asked why she joined GAPS. "My mom helps out with feral cats where we live, taking them in and giving them homes."

Club members are selling dog biscuits, cat treats, and bird food to raise funds for their projects.
Katrina Kiersey, also in sixth grade, joined because she, too, likes animals. "Sometimes I watch Animal Planet....It shows how people abuse animals," she said. "I want to help animals."

All about Bobbin

The first bird that Unger displayed on her gloved hand was small and sleek. After several guesses, the GAPS members correctly named it as a kestrel, the smallest North American falcon.

Unger teased answers from the students, many of whom eagerly waved their hands to respond to her questions. She pointed out three main differences between raptors and songbirds.
"Think B-E-T," said Unger.

B is for beak, which is sharp and curved for eating meat. E is for eyes, which are big to see prey. And T is for talons to dig into prey.

Raptors include hawks, owls, eagles, vultures, and falcons.
"Falcons usually soar," said Unger. "They hunt on the wing...Will it gross you out if I give him a mouse to eat""
"Please do," shouted one boy while other students drew back.

Unger advised them they could look away if they wished as she gingerly offered the kestrel a dead mouse.
"His name is Bobbin," said Unger, explaining that kestrels bob on telephone wires.
"Did you tame him"" asked a girl.
"Yes, I’ve been working with him," replied Unger. A bunch of other falcons had picked on Bobbin, she said "and beat him up," leaving his bottom beak broken and causing nerve damage.
These injuries made it impossible for him to survive in the wild, so Unger uses him "for education."
Falcons, she said, "have long, narrow wings, very aerodynamic, which means they’re fast."
Unger then pointed out the black markings beneath Bobbin’s eyes and asked why they were there. When no answers were forthcoming, she asked, "Why do football players put black stuff under their eyes""
"It keeps out the sun," a boy responded with alacrity.
"Absolutely," said Unger, indicating it was the same for falcons.

She said they can fly as high as airplanes and need the protection from the sun.

Unger said she guessed that Bobbin is five years old and said kestrels can live for 15 to 20 years if they survive their first year, when they have to learn to hunt.
"It would be like your mom saying to you, ‘See ya. Find your own food,’" said Unger.
She pointed out the markings on the back of Bobbin’s head that look like eyes. "It gives the illusion he’s always watching," said Unger.

A boy in the audience compared that to the eyes in a peacock’s feathers or on the wings of a butterfly that keep predators away.
"You guys are smart. You’re teaching me today," said Unger.

Dedication and Fortuna

Next, Unger coaxed a broad-winged hawk named Dedication from its cage.
"She’s missing an eye, which she’d need to hunt food to survive in the wild," said Unger. "She may have been shot."
"Ooooh," came a soft, plaintiff cry from GAPS members on hearing this news.
"It’s very much against the law to shoot a raptor," Unger went on.
Gesturing to the hawk perched on her hand, she continued, "These guys migrate to the south...sometimes as far as South America. They migrate in kettles, tens of thousands of birds all at once."

The final bird to be displayed was the largest and the most popular. It needed some coaxing to leave its cage.
As Unger waited for it to emerge, she said, "Owls are very mischievous."
"What does that mean"" asked a society member.
"It means she gets into trouble," replied Unger.

When the barred owl emerged, looking both grand and gentle, an audible gasp rippled across the room.
Unger explained that owls have "double the vertebrae in their necks that we do" so they can turn their heads around to see what’s behind them.

The barred owl, she said, is the only North American owl with black eyes. Fortuna’s eyes were large, and riveted on Unger.
"Their eyes are so big so they can see at night," she said.

Unger pointed out the stiff feathers that help the owl’s hearing. Unger urged the students to cup their hands behind their ears to see if that helped them hear better — it did. She likened this to the sculpted feathers around Fortuna’s ears.

Unger then pointed out the holes that are ears on either side of Fortuna’s head, set at different levels rather than directly opposite each other as human ears are.
"She has one ear up here and one ear down here," said Unger, pointing to the holes as she explained this helps owls who hunt mostly at dusk or at night and rely on their keen hearing to find their prey.
"She’s being very gentle," said Unger of Fortuna’s grip. Even so, Unger must wear gloves, she said, because an owl’s sharp talons would cause her skin to bleed.
"Great horned owls are double her size and have the power of four full-grown men in their talons," said Unger.
Fortuna is another permanent guest of Unger. "She was hit by a car," Unger explained. "It injured her so she can’t hunt well enough to live out in the wild."

"A great privilege"

Although it is not always possible, a rehabilitator’s prime mission is to re-introduce a hurt, ill, or abandoned animal back into the wild.
Joyce Perry who, like Unger, is a volunteer with the North Country Wild Care, told the GAPS members about some of the animals she has helped. "I’ve had foxes, possums, raccoons, coyotes, fishers, weasels," she said.

Kids started asking about other animals, too. Yes, said Perry, Wild Care had nursed a bear cub and a bobcat and had helped many, many fawns.
Rehabilitators study to pass a state test and get licensed, she told the GAPS members. "We will take in any injured or orphaned animal," Perry said.
"We get fawns all the time," she went on. "People don’t realize the mother will leave her fawn alone all day. The fawns have no scent so they are safe from predators. Somebody will see the fawn alone and bring it to us."

The best thing to do, said Perry, is to leave a fawn alone; chances are, it has not been abandoned and it is difficult, once a fawn has been taken, to re-unite it with its mother.

In Call of the Wild, a newsletter published by North Country Wild Care, Perry describes nursing back to health a very sick opossum, which she named Priscilla. When she was rescued in May, after a hotline call from Niskayuna, Priscilla had a pouch full of tiny pink translucent babies. Opossums are the only North American marsupials, Perry explains.

Perry stayed up all through that first night, giving Priscilla fluids and helping her breathe with a nebulizer. Gradually, over several months, with more treatment, Priscilla’s health improved and seven babies were riding on her back.

At the end of August, the opossum family was released to a farm where food, water, and shelter were available.
"Each day with Priscilla was special as I watched with wonder and delight as my little family grew and prospered," concludes Perry. "It was a great privilege to be able to save Priscilla’s life and watch her babies grow until they were all healthy enough to be wild again."