Join the Team! Make a Difference volunteer with Outreach for Earth Stewardship An invitation from the Director Dear wildlife supporter: Have you ever looked into the eyes of a bird of prey, or heard its heart beating? You can! Outreach for Earth Stewardship offers you a unique volunteer experience like none other in the Champlain Valley Outreach for Earth Stewardship (OFES) is a wildlife education organization which provides professional, quality programs and activities for families, schools, and the community. OFES programs are offered in an atmosphere of respect, celebration, and hope. Located on Shelburne Farms, Outreach for Earth Stewardship maintains a variety of disabled hawks, owls, and corvids as educational ambassadors. These unreleasable birds are held under state and federal permits. OFES is an independent, nonprofit organization, working in educational partnership with Shelburne Farms. A team of trained volunteers takes care of OFES’ ambassadors’ (education birds) daily needs. Birds are fed a diet of whole prey depending on the species of bird. Mice, rats, hamsters, poultry chicks, rabbits are all a part of the menu. Each bird needs to be fed daily. Hawks and corvids are fed during daylight hours and owls are fed at night. This requires two feedings a day - usually two volunteers a day. The feeding routine consists of weighing and recording the food that each set of birds is offered. Food is then hydrated to restore fluid lost from freezing. The appropriate set of birds is fed. Any leftover food is removed from the aviary. Leftovers from each aviary are then weighed and recorded. Food for the next day (or night) is removed from the freezers, weighed and set out to thaw. Clean up is done, as well as other “chores” (dishes, cleaning program boxes, changing paper in infirmary aviaries, etc.). I invite you to explore joining this unique group of people. Your volunteer life begins with an application. Once we receive your application, someone will contact you regarding orientation and training. Orientations usually occur on a Saturday and involve a tour of the facility and an opportunity to “shadow” a Bird Care Team member as they feed the raptors. This will give you a chance to assess whether or not the activity is something you want to pursue. If it is, and there are no obvious contraindications, you will be trained in three to four two-hour sessions, the last one being independent, with back-up contact through a pager. Once you and I comfortable with your judgment, integrity and knowledge of the routine, then you can become an active member of our Bird Care Team by signing up for at least one session of feeding a week. Each feeding session takes about two hours. We ask that Bird Care Team Members sign up four to six weeks in advance. On a less frequent basis, volunteers participate in spring and fall cleaning, raptor health checks, facility tours, rat packing parties, and other group activities. If you want to help the organization, but do not have the schedule to commit to two hours a week, there are other options, including: carpentry; facility maintenance; administrative support; fund-raising; education program development and assistance; education program support (legwork, artwork, costume design/creation, etc.) If the OFES venture is something you decide to pursue, you will find it an experience like none other in the Champlain Valley. Thank you for your interest. Feel free to contact OFES with any further questions.
|
