Steve Longenecker continues his care of Birds Of Prey

A report from Steve Longenecker, long time FCC staff member:

“When I took a short trip to my family’s home in North Florida this past week, I left all the other birds in the care of a Scoutmaster/friend here in Asheville, but took “Sage” with me. I can’t leave this special friend in someone else’s care, especially at her advanced age.

A nature writer/photographer wanted to do a story about “Sage” for the Jacksonville newspaper. We met and he took several photos of her. Here are just two of those:
“Sage” will have been with me three years in April of 2014. She’s been seen by thousands of school children, Boy Scouts, summer campers and others since placed in my care. She has been the “star” of my programs all that time and I treasure every day I awaken and find her “talking” to me and flapping those glorious wings!

How much longer will she be with me, I don’t know. Nobody knows, I guess. She, like all the raptors in my care, have brand-new pea gravel in their mews and on the trails connecting the various enclosures. Three owls, three hawks and two falcons occupy a lot of space here at my place in Asheville.

Sage’s story (being a “Runway Bird” in Indianapolis) seems to fascinate my audiences. I tell them that this single bird has saved millions of dollars-worth of airplanes and possibly thousands of human lives because of her ability to frighten-away flocks of nuisance birds from the flight paths of planes leaving or landing at that one airport.”

The story recently ran in the Florida Times-Union