ABOUT BIRDS OF PREY NORTHWEST

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In 2023, Birds of Prey Northwest in northern Idaho celebrated its achievements of 30 years, including opening our long-awaited eagle “run” to strengthen our largest rescued raptors for flight before their release, rescuing and treating the highest number of raptors in our history due to extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest, and growing our number of educational birds from three birds to 40! We rose to these challenges with the help of incredible volunteers, collaborating wildlife agencies, organizations and private citizens, and committed donors.

 

As we now enter our fourth decade, we continue to promote stewardship and conservation of raptors through educational programs with live birds of prey onsite at our BOPNW center, at schools, libraries, public events and professional conferences, and virtually including through national webinars. The true STEM story of our most famous educational bird, Beauty, has been reported worldwide and is finding readers of all ages in Janie Veltkamp’s children's book Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle, winner of two national STEM book awards. BOPNW executive director Janie Veltkamp coauthored Beauty and the Beak, as well as the new STEM picture book Swoop and Soar: How Science Rescued Two Osprey Orphans and Found Them a New Family in the Wild. Both books, now available in paperback, are true stories of Janie’s raptor rescue and conservation work.

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Our raptor center provides medical treatment and rehabilitation to sick, injured and orphaned birds of prey with the ultimate goal of returning them to the wild. We provide expert evaluation and care in coordination with other raptor centers and wildlife agencies, and train volunteer raptor caregivers.  We travel with a large collection of live birds of prey for training and educational programs. We are located in North Idaho, off of Interstate 90 in St. Maries, where we give tours of our facilty by appointment only.  BOPNW is a nonprofit and receives no state or federal wildlife agency funding. We depend on educational program fees, grants and partnerships, book sales, and graciously donated funds and items to care for many species of raptors.