Duncan Aviation may have experience with Falcons, but the MRO facility had its first encounter with three American kestrel falcons this summer. The falcons were found in the Lincoln, Nebraska facility’s relatively new 40,000-sq-ft Hangar G. While they did not cause any disruption, NDT master tech Molly Stuhr took it upon herself to make sure the birds received the care they needed to make their maiden flight out of the facility.
Stuhr told AIN that she spotted the first falcon sitting in a corner of the hangar by a computer on June 12, but left it alone for a few hours. Noting that a mother had not been flying around to protect it, she put it in a box so that it would not be harmed by the work being completed in the hangar. The next day, other mechanics found a second falcon in the tracks of the hangar door, where it was almost run over. Stuhr was called to remove the bird. The third falcon was found on June 14, when she was not working, but she gave her colleagues directions for turning the falcon over to the Fontenelle Forest Raptor Recovery Center.
“I wanted the birds to survive and knew there was a raptor recovery center in the area,” Stuhr told AIN.
Each time a falcon was found, Duncan Aviation employees contacted Elaine Bachel, a volunteer for the recovery center located in Elmwood, Nebraska. According to its website, the Fontenelle Forest Raptor Recovery Center receives 450 to 500 birds of prey (owls, hawks, eagles, vultures and falcons) in need each year from Nebraska and parts of western Iowa. Once citizens alert the center of birds that need assistance, the closest volunteer will travel to collect the bird and bring it to the facility.
According to the center, 40 percent of rescued birds will succumb to their injuries while 45 percent will be released back into the wild and 5 percent will remain in captivity as education birds. The three falcons rescued from Duncan Aviation were evaluated and found to be uninjured; they just needed more time to grow before taking off.
Stuhr told AIN, “I have not had previous experiences with the raptor recovery center] but would definitely work with them again. When I took the second falcon to [recovery center worker] Elaine's house, she showed me the other birds she had there that were recovering. She had a couple of screech owls and a great horned owl. They were really cool to see. She said most birds that go there get banded and released back into the wild around the area where they were found.”
And that’s exactly what happened to the three falcons. After three weeks of rehabilitation, the birds were brought back to Duncan Aviation’s facility to be released. Bachel brought the birds back and allowed airframe lead mechanic Scott Howell, NDT master tech Ray Vieselmeyer and airframe mechanic Jordan Voge to release them into the area they knew best.
While Duncan Aviation has previously seen barn swallows or pigeons in its hangars briefly, this was the first time a bird of prey such as a falcon had been recovered.
