Photo: SORCO

An extremely rare species of falcon was found hopping around on the ground by a daycare centre in Trail, B.C. this week, prompting the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls to step in and take the bird in. 

Dale Belvedere, manager of SORCO, said the prairie falcon used to be common in B.C., but is now mostly found in the United States. 

"Up until the early 80s, they were quite common in our area," Belvedere said. "The assumption is that they all disappeared from B.C. when people started coming to the area and hiking in the cliffs, where they like to nest."

This particular prairie falcon was found with no injuries and is extremely friendly with humans, leading Belvedere to believe she may have been a falconer's bird who was let go either by accident or on purpose. 

"She responds well to humans, mostly to a woman's voice actually," Belvedere said. 

The bird has been nicknamed Leanne. While she was found in Trail, which is not usually part of SORCO's rescue area, they decided to intervene because she was in an area where young children were playing. 

"The fear was if the kids went up to the fence, we didn't know what the bird would do," Belvedere said, explaining that it took three days and plenty of volunteers from around interior B.C. to bring Leanne back to the SORCO facility in Oliver. 

Now, Leanne will be staying at SORCO indefinitely, because she missed her target window to migrate, if in fact she is a wild bird. Prairie falcons migrate south in August or early September, so it's much too cold for Leanne in the wild now. 

"When we put her in one of our exterior flight pens, she just sat in a corner shivering," Belvedere said. "So we've turned the heat on in the facility, which we never do, because raptors don't need to be warm, but she does." 

They will need to keep her warm and fed until at least the spring, when they will try some tactics to see if she can be released into the wild safely. Until then, her care will be a drain on SORCO's resources, though Belvedere said it's a burden they bear happily. 

"That's what we're here for, and we're happy we could save her."

Anyone wishing to help offset the cost of Leanne's care by donating to SORCO can do so here.