Hidden off Valley View Road in Ferndale is the Sardis Raptor Center, a rehabilitation center where birds of prey are treated for everything from a few missing feathers to life-threatening injuries.
Sharon Wolters treated songbirds in California before she moved to Washington. When Wolters’ neighbor in Washington brought her a finch found in their backyard, Wolters realized that the area lacked resources for helping injured animals.
“I thought, ‘We need something up here. This place is all wildlife,’” Wolters said.
Wolters, who has a veterinary background, took a state test and started the center shortly afterward in 1989. The center rehabilitated animals from cougars to baby hummingbirds in its early years before the Whatcom County eagle poisonings of 1995. The poisonings occurred from a misuse of Warbex, a pesticide used on cattle. Unable to keep up with increased demand, Wolters shifted her focus to rehabilitating hawks, owls, eagles and falcons.
“It’s very specialized,” Wolters said. “It’s not your average bird. Everything about them is different.”
The center has more than 30 non-releasable birds and 20 releasable birds, said Sardis Raptor Center volunteer Sarah Mintz, who has been with the center for 22 years. A bird’s stay can vary from one week to over a year, she said.
“These guys are top predators. They have to be 100 percent to be released, and that can be a really difficult number to reach,” Mintz said. “They need all their toes, they need their eyesight, they need their hearing and then they’ll be able to fly.”
The nonprofit has about 20 volunteers but is in need of more help. Volunteers, who are trained at the center, do everything from cleaning bird cages to feeding the birds and leading guided tours at the center.
Alex Mazurkewycz, a Semiahmoo resident who has volunteered with the center since last year, said he became interested in working with the center after visiting for a tour. He said he knew nothing about raptors before starting but has come to appreciate many of their evolutionary adaptations, like the owl’s ability to turn its head 270 degrees.
Mazurkewycz assists with everything from cleaning bird cages to feeding the inhabitants their meals, which typically consist of dead turkey, chicken and rats. His goal is to help the raptors overcome their human-caused injuries, like being shot by lead bullets or hit by cars, that caused them to be admitted to the clinic in the first place.
“I feel like if I can help these guys survive these encounters with humans, that’s better. They didn’t deserve this,” Mazurkewycz said.
The center’s activity level varies by species and time of year, Mintz said. Spring can be busy because it’s when baby owls and eagles are born, but winter means migrating birds are moving through the area and darker days create conditions for more owls to get hit by cars.
People who find hurt raptors should call the center, which can triage calls and properly contain the birds. The center says people shouldn’t pick up hurt raptors because they use their feet to hunt. Once taken back to the center, the birds are evaluated for their injuries. If a bird’s treatment exceeds Wolters’ capabilities, she enlists the help of Dr. Rachel Bangert of Village Veterinary Hospital in Bellingham, who helps with procedures like X-rays and surgeries.
The birds are kept in the clinic while on medication, before transitioning to a larger enclosure and then a barn where they can practice flight before being released, Mintz said.
“When we release birds, we try to get them back out to where they were found,” Mintz said. “In some cases, that’s really hard to do because we don’t release them back on the road if they were hit by a car. But we’ll try to release them as close to their territory as possible.”
One of the most recent birds to come into the center is Survivor, an eagle hit head-on by a train who had previous injuries including being blind in one eye and having a bullet in the abdomen. Usually, the center has to euthanize an eagle if its wing is dislocated, but Survivor’s wing miraculously moved back into place.
Wolters said her favorite part of the job is releasing the birds. “It’s exhilarating,” Wolters said. “It’s something that no amount of money can give you. I don’t get paid for what I do, so seeing the birds released is my payment.”
Wolters, who lives above the clinic, is on call 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. But she doesn’t see this as a challenge – it always brings something new.
“I’ve always loved animals.” Wolters said. “Birds are always in my heart.”
Sardis Raptor Center is located at 7472 Valley View Road in Ferndale. Tours, which were previously offered on Saturdays between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., are currently canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. For updates and any other information, contact the center directly at 360/366-3863.
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