Ramona Grasslands

HAWK WATCH PROGRAM CANCELLED IN RAMONA FOR 2014

 

By Miriam Raftery

December 30, 2013 (Ramona)--After 20 years, Hawk Watch, a popular wildlife educational program in Ramona featuring  hawks, owls and eagles, has been cancelled for 2014 .  Visitors can still go birdwatching on their own at the Ramona Grasslands  Preserve, but there will be no organized presentations or up-close looks at captive birds of prey.

 Wildlife Research Institute, which ran the program, announced the cancellation on its website with no explanation.  But the decision likely stems from trouble raising funds for the nonprofit after news broke that its founder, David Bittner, was sentenced in federal court  in August after pleading guilty to unlawful taking  a Golden Eagle without a permit and failing to file any data reports for a four-year period on birds that he had banded.


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HAWK WATCH: AN UP CLOSE LOOK AT RAPTORS

 

Event continues each Saturday in January and February

By Miriam Raftery

January 27, 2013 (Ramona ) – A Ferruginous hawk, the largest hawk found in San Diego County, hunkers down on a treetop at the Ramona Grasslands preserve.  In a field nearby,  volunteers with the Wildlife Research Institute give visitors an up-close look at another of these magnificent birds (left), which winter in our region after migrating south from the northern U.S. and Canada.

Rainfall  moved the event indoors, where a Peregrine Falcon and a Screech Owl were shown off next. “We’ve never cancelled a single time,” WRI executive director Dave Bittner notes.  Later, as the weather cleared, Bittner displayed a golden eagle outdoors; a special report by the WRI warns that “our last remaining Golden Eagle territories in San Diego County are being threatened.”


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WHERE EAGLES SOAR: VIEW WILD RAPTORS AT HAWK WATCH IN RAMONA EACH SATURDAY IN JANUARY


By Millicent Arko
 
January 2, 2012 (Ramona) – The Ramona Grasslands and Wildlife Research Institute (WRI) invites the public to visit and view wintering and resident birds of prey. Programs begin promptly at 9 a.m. and end at noon every Saturday in January. This free event is held at the WRI headquarters at 18030 Highland Valley Road near the intersection of Rangeland and Highland Roads in Ramona.

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