Karen Hoyt's red-tailed hawk was hit by a car, suffering an injury that gave her limited flight — and a place in the Sky Hunters Environmental Education program.

Chrissy Ragulsky
News-Register

"For in the end, we will only conserve what we love. We will only love what we understand. We will only understand what we are taught."
- Baba Dioum, African ecologist

When Karen Hoyt eyed her soon-to-be new home in Carlton through photos on the Internet, it was the barn that clinched the sale. It had nice-sized eves that she could use to make new homes for four of her precious family members - two owls, a hawk and a falcon, the stars of Hoyt's nonprofit Sky Hunters Environmental Education program.

"I made sure I had a nice place for the birds," she said.

Hoyt, a former wildlife rescue volunteer, has federal and state permits allowing her to keep the raptors and use them for educational purposes. All had been through lengthy periods of rehabilitation after suffering injuries and were determined unfit for release back into the wild.

They are now featured in the programs on bird of prey she gives to groups of children in preschool through sixth grade.

Two birds are used for each presentation, with seven programs geared toward various age groups: "Around the Clock with an Owl and a Hawk," "Commuting on the Wing," "Dinos to Modern Day Birds: Avian Evolution," "Hunters of the Sky," "Silent Hunters," "Who is Eating Whom," and "Why People Can't Fly."

Which two birds are used depends on the program and the children's ages.

When a great horned owl is pulled from its transportation box, it can grab the attention of a fourth-grader. That same bird, however, could scare a kindergartner.

In Hoyt's programs, she refers to her birds only by their type - common barn owl, great horned owl, red-tailed hawk and peregrine falcon - instead of using nicknames. Hoyt doesn't want the children to think of raptors as pets.

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"Birds are important indicators of what's going on in the environment and are very sensitive to what's happening," Hoyt said.

She pointed out that the peregrine falcon was once an endangered species because the use of DDT caused its eggshells to thin, leading to broken eggs and dying embryos. In California, the population deteriorated to just seven individuals and two breeding pairs.

"Peregrine falcons were on their way out," she said. "Extinction is forever."

But people identified the problem and took action. The population resurged and the birds were removed from the endangered species list in 1999. There are now more than 270 breeding pairs in California, Hoyt said.

"I think peregrines are fantastic for education," she said. "They show how people can make a difference for birds in the wild."

In her educational sessions, Hoyt focuses on teaching children that many times, the needs of animals are the same as the needs of humans.

"I teach awareness and respect for wild things and wild places," she said.

Her road to environmental education began in January 2004. She worked at Stanford University in what she described as a "fairly high-pressured job." Work weeks routinely exceeded 60 hours, and were beginning to approach 80.

When Hoyt talked to her boss, she was told that she needed to get with the program and accept the long days. That's when Hoyt decided that life was too short and important to focus so much energy into her job.

She and her husband, Grant, who also worked at Stanford, had made a pact that they would only talk about work for 15 minutes after arriving home. When he asked her about her day, Hoyt replied that she couldn't begin - it would take much longer then the allotted time.

Her husband waived the 15-minute policy, and an hour and a half later, Hoyt was done.

"He said, take a year off. You're too stressed," she said.

After that first year, Grant told Karen he didn't want her to return to work - he liked the woman she had become.

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Hoyt had spent 23 years volunteering with Wildlife Rescue of Palo Alto, caring for sick, orphaned and injured birds.

"It was my way of giving back," Hoyt explained. "We take so much from the planet."

Caring for rescued animals takes an emotional toll - 50 percent of them don't survive. But the rewards of seeing a rescued animal get a second chance are worth it.

Her efforts with the animals gave her insight on which birds could fit into the educational program she was just developing. She named the program after another Southern California nonprofit called Sky Hunters, operated by her mentor, Nancy Conney.

"She convinced me I could do this," Hoyt said.

The raptors she chose to be a part of Sky Hunters Environmental Education are birds that can handle regular contact with humans - a predator of their own.

"I'm putting them in front of a group of people that could eat them," she said. "The last thing I wanted to do was to stress out a bird."

The choice of embarking into the educational field combined two of her loves - children and birds. It helped her fulfill a need to help others better understand the natural world.

"I enjoy it immensely," she said, adding that the sessions with the birds also helped her overcome a fear of public speaking.

Hoyt gave 100 presentations in her first year and 135 in her second. Her nonprofit business was literally taking flight.

In fact, when her husband announced in July that he was retiring after 35 years with Stanford, one of his big concerns was moving his wife's successful venture.

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It was the luck of the draw that brought the Hoyts to Carlton. The couple had been researching property in the Portland and Vancouver areas, seeking a parcel of about 20 acres. Online, they came across 42 slides depicting the home, barn and acreage in Carlton - and fell in love.

"It's everything we could have imagined," Hoyt said.

As soon as the sale was closed, she headed up for a week to renovate the eves under the barn for homes for the raptors. Aided by McMinn-ville's Don Rush, she quickly realized there were a few things she didn't account for, and a week was not enough time. However, Rush said he would get them done while Hoyt returned to California.

A month ago, with the four birds settled into their transportation boxes, Karen headed more than 11 hours north from Los Altos to a new life in Carlton. While she's still working on tweaking the cages - which are designed to not only keep the birds in, but to keep predators out - Karen reports that her raptors are now very content.

In fact, the red-tailed hawk has a suitor that has discovered the female bird's new home.

"This is our next big adventure," Hoyt said of the move to Yamhill County. "I wanted the birds to be a part of it."

ABOUT THE BIRDS

Common barn owl: Bird handler Karen Hoyt said barn owls strive to build their nests in the cavities of large trees. While not a problem in rural areas, those types of trees can be tougher to find in cities. The mother of Hoyt's owl chose a palm tree in southern California for her nesting home.

Barn owl's eggs can be laid every other day, which determines the chicks' birth order. As the young owl's siblings were hatched, it was moved farther and farther to the edge of the frond, eventually sliding off and suffering a broken hip from the 20-foot fall.

Hoyt has had the bird for the past three years, obtaining it when it was a 2-week-old downy chick with "a face only a mother could love," she said.

Barn owls specialize in eating rodents - they can consume six mice per night - and can prey on mammals as large as a small rabbit. Hoyt likes to point out how beneficial an owl family is in controlling the rodent population.

While the barn owl's average lifespan is two years in the wild, in captivity it can live 12 to 15 years.

Great horned owl: This bird is large enough to make his carrying box into a bouncing house, especially if there's a noisy group of children. That, Hoyt said, can certainly intrigue the kids.

"He knows his job, but he doesn't like being in captivity, and he can't survive in the wild," she said.

He was an orphan who suffered a detached retina after falling out of his nest during a storm. He was originally raised to be released and even had a surrogate great horned owl parent to teach him about his own species, but it was not to be.

With a poorly developed sense of smell, Hoyt said, these owls are among the few creatures that will kill and eat skunks. They will consume a wide range of prey including rodents and reptiles, with rabbits its meal of choice. It may take prey two to three times its own size.

Red-tailed hawk: Hoyt's hawk was hit by a car in its first year, suffering a broken wing. She spent three years in rehabilitation, and it was hoped that she would be released back to the wild. However, she would fly just 150 yards then ground herself. That puzzled her caretakers.

After more observation, it was discovered that she also had a poor sense of balance and experiences dizziness - not conducive to surviving in the wild.

"All of her perches now swing to help her get her balance," Hoyt said. "She already has vertigo all the time."

About 90 percent of the hawks observed in the wild are the red-tailed, Hoyt said. They're not picky when it comes to prey, Hoyt said, eating anything from rabbits to snakes to birds as large as pheasants. They will adapt to the food sources available.

Peregrine falcon: The falcon is the newest member of the Sky Hunters team and spent the first 16 years of its life in the wild. He was initially taken into rehabilitation with an impact injury, and then was retired into his educational role after damaging his right wing in November 2006.

"He needs to be able to fly and dive at great speeds," Hoyt said. "They're the fastest creature on earth today." Peregrines will fly a mile high before starting their speed-diving descent after their prey. They have been clocked diving at more than 240 miles per hour.

They are bird-eating creatures. A small one can swat a mallard duck out of the sky, while a larger falcon can strike down a goose.

After their prey is knocked down, it is quickly killed, Hoyt said, describing peregrines as "very ethical - they like their food dead before they eat it."

How the birds eat in captivity: "I'm very lucky to have a wonderful donation program," Hoyt said.

A New York laboratory humanely euthanizes rats and mice used in genetic research, then packages and freezes the rodents for shipping.

"We love our donors," she said.

To contact Sky Hunters: Visit www.sky-hunters.org or call 503-852-7829.