Enraptured with raptors

Craig Moran, of Kent, Washington-based Raptor Life, shows Lake Roosevelt students his 28-year-old ferruginous hawk named August, caught in Wyoming in 1990. "She's beautiful!" students exclaimed when he presented her at the Bird Fest last week. August eats rabbit, quail, and mice, weighs only three pounds, and has a wingspace between 46 and 52 inches. Moran also spoke to the students about the 3,000-year-old sport of falconry, in which a person uses a trained bird of prey to hunt. Elementary- and junior-high-age students from Lake Roosevelt, Nespelem, Tonasket, Wilbur, Creston, and Davenport enjoyed presentations at three different stations in Grand Coulee Feb. 15-16. Formerly the Balde Eagle Festival, the Bird Fest is organized by National Park Service Education Specialist Janice Elvidge.

- Jacob Wagner photo