Time for me to retire...Again!
Dear Friends and Supporters of Friends with Feathers,
As of July 1, 2012, Friends With Feathers will cease to exist.
Between giving birds of prey presentations at the Cumming Nature Center during the 1980s and forming Friends With Feathers, Ltd. in 1990, I have been giving birds of prey talks for more than 30 years.
With Friends With Feathers alone we have given more than 3,200 presentations before an audience of 300,000+ people.
But family activities, especially the grandchildren's, and increased arthritis indicate it’s time to transfer Friends With Feathers' working crew of birds on to other educators.
Our birds have all been spoken for so they’ll all have new homes. Many of them are going back to the wildlife rehabilitators who originally patched them up and transferred them to me. The rehabilitators have become educators themselves!
Thank you for all the support and interest you have given Friends With Feathers all through the years. You have scheduled programs with us and financially made it possible for Friends With Feathers to house and feed many of western New York’s injured raptors.
As many of you have heard me say, my retirement career was ideal because “ I was still able to teach all these years but I didn’t have to do lesson plans or go to faculty meetings!”
The one thing I will miss is the many great friends I have made as the birds and I traveled around western New York giving birds of prey presentations.
The following poem very nicely explains what I have tried to accomplish with my raptor friends:
In the end we will conserve only what we love.
We love only what we understand.
We understand only what we are taught.
by Baba Doppi
For those of you interested in a birds of prey presentation after July 1, 2012, I suggest you contact one of the following organizations:
| Kindred Kingdoms | Jean Soprano | (315) 695-6418 |
http://kindredkingdoms.com/ |
| Wild Wings | (585) 334-7790 | www.wildwingsinc.org | |
| Institute for Environmental Learning | Ann & Paul Schnell | (585) 366-4314 | www.ielraptors.org |
Most of Friends With Feathers' raptors are going to be transferred to Kindred Kingdoms and Wild Wings after July 1, 2012. You may see a familiar bird of prey when you schedule a program with them.
Thank you for your years of support,
Ron Walker