Secret Garden Birds and Bees

Goal: $2,000.00

Specific Need

Do you want to meet your wildest neighbors, feed a red-tailed hawk, build a home for a great horned owl, or give a falcon a ride to a kindergarten nature class? Your donation supports all of this and more. Every dollar goes directly to the care and feeding of our Wildlife Ambassador Birds of Prey and to making our wildlife education programs possible. Most of our birds have permanent disabilities that would make survival in the wild impossible. We give them a home, their natural foods, and enrichment activities that allow them to live full lives in captivity. But we need your help!

Our biggest expense is food for our hungry birds of prey (frozen mice, rats, and day-old chickens) followed by construction and maintenance of their enclosures, replacement of worn handling and transport equipment, veterinary care and medications, federal and state permits, liability insurance and continuing education as required by those permits, and other costs of running a non-profit business.

Mission

We are an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization working with wildlife rehabilitators, falconers, naturalists, and beekeepers dedicated to help our communities create and preserve a healthy, vibrant and diverse environment for ourselves and our native wildlife.

Have you ever felt the thrill of watching a red-tailed hawk soar beneath a bright blue sky or been delighted to hear a barred owl call on a cold, clear night? Maybe you’ve enjoyed the hum of native pollinators in your garden or been able to smell and taste spring wildflowers in a spoonful of honey made by local honey bees. Have you ever wondered about where they live, what they eat or how they raise their young? We invite you into the personal lives of the birds and bees, help you identify our native species, raise awareness of the valuable contribution they make to the health of our environment, and encourage practices that ensure their survival.

The sad truth is that the number of wild animals harmed by habitat loss and climate change is staggering. Many more are poisoned by rodenticides or suffer lingering deaths on inhumane glue traps. Each year, billions of birds are killed in window strikes or by feral and free-roaming domestic cats. Lead poisoning continues to sicken and kill bald eagles. Collisions with vehicles take an additional toll. Insect populations are in steep decline due to overuse of pesticides.

We are a tiny organization hoping to inspire a big changes locally. We believe that an understanding of the natural world and how we impact it is essential to making wise choices for the future of our planet. We hope that the informative and entertaining programs offered by Secret Garden Birds and Bees will increase awareness of the amazing creatures around us - right in our own backyard. If each of us does our part to build our cities, suburbs, and rural communities intelligently, considering the needs of our native wildlife, we will not merely coexist with nature, we will thrive with it!

Profile

Since 2017 our Wildlife Ambassador hawks and owls have captured the attention of people throughout Loudoun and Fauquier Counties from pre-schoolers to senior citizens. Last year, we added our first falcon, a tiny American kestrel named Pippin! They travel with us to schools, libraries, nature centers, parks, and community centers to raise awareness of the challenges faced by native wildlife in our increasingly human world and what each of us can do to help. In 2023, we did 75 educational programs on topics including "What is an Owl", "Raptors Unite the World", "Raptors - the Key to Biodiversity", and more.

Our red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk, eastern screech owl, barred owl, great horned owl, and American kestrel are wild birds that are non-releasable due to injuries that left them permanently disabled. They would not survive in the wild. But they are healthy, beautiful, and still show the wildness that makes them exciting. Our barn owl, Olive, is a special case. She is a captive bred bird hatched in 2020. We always prefer to provide healthy, enriching homes for non-releasable wild birds. But the barn owl population in our region has declined drastically and barn owls are becoming rare. In our programs we often talk about the devastating effects of habitat loss on these beautiful birds and the benefits that they – and all birds of prey – provide to a balanced ecosystem. We needed a barn owl to help us tell that story and Olive took the job.

Our multimedia educational programs cover a range of topics from the spectacular annual migration of broad winged hawks to the basics of backyard beekeeping and the plight of native bees. Each program can be customized for the age and knowledge level of the audience. In March of 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions, we began presenting virtual programs and creating educational videos featuring our birds and bees so we could continue to reach out to our neighbors. In 2024, we will continue to offer live virtual and pre-recorded programs to reach a wider audience than might be unable to attend a live program.

We support science education in our local high schools by providing a Special Award at the Loudoun County Regional Science and Engineering Fair for a student who demonstrates an appreciation of the role these disciplines play in the conservation of a healthy environment for native plants and animals. We work with Scouts as sponsors of Gold Award and Eagle Scout projects that help to stabilize populations of native species that are in decline. And we work closely with many community organizations including the Friends of Banshee Reeks, Virginia Master Naturalists, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, and the Loudoun Beekeepers Association to expand our message and our reach. We have also worked with the the US Forest Service International Programs to bring multilingual programs to Title 1 schools in DC and hope to be able to bring these programs to school in Loudoun and Fauquier Counties in 2024. We look forward in the coming year to expanding further into underserved urban communities, Home Owners Associations, and others who are fearful or unaware of the amazing wild world around them.

In addition to our educational programs, we keep our communities informed of wildlife related concerns and events through an active Facebook page. We provide much needed guidance on what to do when someone finds a sick, injured, or orphaned wild animal through information on social media and on our website. We respond to questions about wildlife through phone calls, social media, and email. And, although we are not licensed to provide wildlife rehabilitation in Virginia, we can assist with rescue and transport of wildlife.

Please take a few minutes to click on the videos below to meet our birds and hear their stories.