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A quick release, and a falcon flies free Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Chris Rodgers of Wildlife Images gives a rescued prairie falcon a gentle toss into the air Tuesday afternoon. The bird of prey, which was found injured in late August in Central Point, took flight just off the Upper Table Rock Trail. It�s one of hundreds of animals nursed back to health and released by Wildlife Images since it was founded in 1973. The bird of prey should do fine, say the humans who helped it By Paul Fattig UPPER TABLE ROCK � As though she were making an offering to a higher power, Chris Rodgers gently tossed a feathered, light-brown bundle into the air Tuesday afternoon. It magically unfolded into a prairie falcon, which immediately flew off on powerful wings around the northeastern flank of Upper Table Rock. "Each time is like the first one you�ve ever released," said Rodgers, clinic supervisor at Wildlife Images Inc., the nonprofit animal rehabilitation and education center near Merlin. The regal bird of prey was found weak and injured in a yard along Freeman Road in Central Point in late August. Like hundreds of animals released since the facility was founded in 1973 by the late Dave Siddon, the young bird was nursed back to health to be given the chance to be free. The founder�s son, David Allan Siddon, is now the director of the facility. The falcon was given no name. "You don�t want to get too attached to these animals," explained Medford resident Ralph Quincy, a Wildlife Images volunteer who took the falcon into the center. It was the second prairie falcon Quincy has rescued. However, the first one�s wings were too damaged to allow the bird to be released. That bird is now used for educational purposes at the facility. The young bird released Tuesday will have to find a territory not already staked out by another bird of prey, said the retired firefighter with the Medford Fire Department. "But once they get their bearings, prairie falcons are so aerobatic there is hardly anything that can compete with them," Quincy said. "Even a peregrine falcon would be real hard-pressed to take on a prairie falcon. "They are kind of like the F-16s of the air � really fast and maneuverable," he added. "I think he�ll be just fine." Cory Laughlin, manager at Wildlife Images, also expects him to survive in the wild. "He has been fattened up," she said. "He has good body weight now. He�s ready to be out on his own. And this is prairie falcon habitat." The bird will likely migrate to warmer climes when the Southern Oregon weather gets wet and cold, Laughlin said. "This is perfect weather now � he has time to migrate," she said. The young bird was likely out on his own for the first time when he ended up in the Central Point yard, Rodgers said, adding no one knows for sure how he was injured. "He probably had no set territory," she said. "The parents had probably pushed him out of their territory, told him, �Time to be on your own, son.� He was probably out trying to get food on his own." While at Wildlife Images, the falcon dined on mice, rats and quail. Seconds before being released, the falcon had been letting fly shrill cries of "kree-kree-kree." Now it was free to soar the blue October sky above the flat Table Rocks and green pastures bordering the Rogue River. "He had a little bit of a limp when he flew, but that�s expected when they have some muscle trauma," Rodgers observed. Although Rodgers, who has been with Wildlife Images for 10 years, has helped release everything from eagles to skunks over the years, she never tires of it. "Awesome!" she said as he flew off, then added, "This is what it�s all about." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.