About four years ago, the young male kestrel was brought to the bird rescue at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee, Vt., after he was discovered in the nearby town ofThe bird had landed on the shoulder of an unsuspecting person who was out for a walk near his home. The kestrel was loud and chattering away as heMorris and her colleagues figured that his willingness to approach humans was because he had been kept illegally in captivity.
For several years, Ferrisburgh’s keepers brought him out during field trips and classes so he could fly back and forth and people could get a close-up look at theIn June, Ferrisburgh’s role at the bird rescue took a turn when he fractured one of his wings and could no longer fly. Mal Muratori, an environmental educator and family programs director at the institute, found the injured bird on the ground one morning in the kestrel’s enclosure, and said it was unclear how he became hurt.
“I thought it was a cute idea that could also help to educate people about kestrels,” said Smith, 22. “Ferrisburgh could no longer do what he used to do as an ambassador, but maybe he could do art instead.” headtopics.com
Soon the bird was running back and forth across the paper, leaving colorful tracks in exchange for treats, Smith said. More than a dozen people paid $10 and showed up for the first class last month, spending an evening coloring pictures with crayons or doing free-form paintings of Ferrisburgh as the raptor created his own art work at the front of the classroom.Smith and Muratori placed 14 small white canvases next to each other in a square, then Ferrisburgh walked around through blue, yellow and fuchsia paint. His bright tracks were transferred to the canvas as he scurried around to get his meal worm treats.
While Ferrisburgh created his mini action painting, Smith and Muratori gave the class a lesson about kestrels. Another American kestrel, Westford, flew in and went back and forth between the instructors’ thick gloves as they talked about the importance of helping raptors in the wild. headtopics.com