Birds of prey celebrated at annual Libby Dam event
Don Veltkamp holds Pennington the peregrine falcon and Janie Veltkamp holds Madeline the merlin during a presentation at Libby Dam Saturday, April 28, 2018. The couple operate Birds of Prey Northwest out of St. Maries, Idaho. This was the seventh year the 25-year-old nonprofit has appeared at Libby Dam. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Don Veltkamp, right, displays Pennington, a peregrine falcon, as his wife and colleague Janie Veltkamp teaches a group of people about the raptor at Libby Dam on Saturday, April 28, 2018. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Janie Veltkamp discusses Madeline, a merlin, during a presentation at Libby Dam Saturday, April 28. In back are Briar, a red-tailed hawk, left, and Bubbah, a great-horned owl. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Susan James, park ranger at Libby Dam Visitor Center, displays a prosthetic bald eagle beak during a presentation by Birds of Prey Northwest on Saturday, April 28, 2018. The beak, printed by a three-dimensional printer, was designed to help rehabilitate Beauty, an injured bald eagle. “Beauty and the Beak” is the award-winning children’s book about Beauty’s experience. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Keaton Buell teaches a group of people about Skybird, a Swainson’s Hawk, during a presentation at Libby Dam Saturday, April 28, 2018. Buell is an intern for Birds of Prey Northwest of St. Maries, Idaho. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Briar, a red-tailed hawk, settles down after being placed on a perch before a series of presentations by Birds of Prey Northwest at Libby Dam Saturday, April 28, 2018. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Janie Veltkamp poses for a photo with Bubbah the great-horned owl before giving a presentation at Libby Dam Saturday, April 28, 2018. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Plastic prosthetic bald eagle beaks sit next to “Beauty and the Beak” -- the book about the beak’s design for use in the rehabilitation of Beauty, a bald eagle rescued by Birds of Prey Northwest -- at a presentation at Libby Dam Saturday, April 28, 2018. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Keaton Buell, left, poses Skybird, a Swainson’s hawk, as backdrop for a photo of Blaise Erickson, foreground, Joe Thompson and Makayla Thompson after a presentation at Libby Dam Saturday, April 28, 2018. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Raptor biologist and author Janie Veltkamp, center, waits for Dakota, a golden eagle, to settle down as Don Veltkamp watches Saturday, APril 28, 2018. The Veltkamps operate Birds of Prey Northwest out of St. Maries, Idaho, and were giving a series of presentations at Libby Dam. (John Blodgett/The Western News)
Birds of Prey Northwest, the Idaho-based raptor rehabilitation and educational nonprofit that presented at Libby Dam for the seventh consecutive year on Saturday, had more to celebrate this year than the seven birds it brought along to share with the public.
The organization is celebrating its 25th anniversary, as well as its prize-winning book, published last August, about how technology helped the nonprofit save a bald eagle whose beak had been shot off.
“Beauty and the Beak: How Science,Technology and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle” was co-authored by California-based author Deborah Lee Rose and Janie Veltkamp, raptor biologist and director of Birds of Prey Northwest.
The book tells the story of Beauty, who was found in Alaska in 2008 with much of her beak destroyed by a poacher’s bullet. Veltkamp arranged to have her brought to St. Maries, Idaho, where Birds of Prey Northwest is based. Ignoring experts who believed the bald eagle should be euthanized, Veltkamp assembled a team that included a mechanical engineer, veterinarians and dentists that volunteered hundreds of hours to design a prosthetic beak that was produced using a three-dimensional printer.
Earlier this year, the book won the Best Children’s Science Picture Book category in a contest co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Subaru of America.
More recently, the Bank Street College of Education named it the winner of its annual Cook Prize, Which “honors the best science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) picture book published for children aged eight to 10,” according to the school’s website.
The book was chosen from among 16 finalists in a process where Veltkamp said “children across the country make (the) decision.”
The book targets third through sixth graders, Veltkamp said, “but first graders are loving it and so are adults.”
Beauty wasn’t at Saturday’s event at Libby Dam — she stays at the facility in St. Maries — but copies of her book and her beak were. There were also seven captive raptors: Madeline the merlin, Aurora the short-eared owl, Briar the red-tailed hawk, Skybird the Swainson’s hawk, Bubbah the great-horned owl, Pennington the peregrine falcon, and Dakota the golden eagle.
Veltkamp gave a handful of mostly identical presentations on the ecology of the birds that were about 20-25 minutes in length. She was assisted by her husband and colleague Don Veltkamp and intern Keaton Buell. Buell’s wife, Teri, sold books and beaks and gave away information at a table, while Libby Dam Park Ranger Susan James helped with crowd control and parts of the presentations.
Despite competing events — Rendezvous Days in Eureka and the opening day baseball parade in Libby — each presentation was well attended, with about 75 adults and children lined up for the first and dozens more for the remaining time slots.
The presentations were free to attend, but donations were accepted and can also be made throughout the year — as Janie Veltkamp noted, though Birds of Prey Northwest is heavily permitted by the government it gets no federal support.
The biggest expense, about $40,000 annually, is food for the birds, she said.
Donations can be made via the nonprofit’s website at www.birdsofpreynorthwest.org, where copies of “Beauty and the Beak” can be ordered and free related educational guides downloaded.