RCV needs your help to buy food that injured, orphaned and sick raptors in our care need to regain their health and make it back to the wild.



The Raptor Conservancy of Virginia (RCV) is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to rehabilitation and release of native Virginia raptors, and education of the public about raptors. RCV specializes in the rehabilitation of wild injured, ill or orphaned hawks, owls, falcons, ospreys and eagles. RCV admits over 200 wild birds for treatment each year, as well as continuing treatment of any raptors remaining from the previous year.







RCV is supported entirely by donations from the public! The funds raised during this t-shirt campaign will godirectly to buying food for the raptors! What kind of food do raptors eat? Raptors are wild animals and they need to eat the same diet they would eat in the wild in order to get all of the nutrients they need to stay healthy. Most of the raptors we take care of eat rodents in the wild, so we buy frozen whole mice from a reputable breeder. On average RCV feeds 5000 mice a month to the raptors in our care. We also need to buy frozen day-old chicks and large adult quail to feed the raptors that eat birds in the wild, such as Cooper's Hawks and any large falcons.



As we like to say, all our patients are uninsured, they don't make appointments, and they all try to bite us! One thing they all need every day is good nutritious food to help them regain their health, and as such raptor food is RCV's #1 expense. We are reaching out now to ensure that we can keep RCV well supplied with the mice, chicks and quail needed to feed every bird that comes in needing our help.



This year our t-shirts are higher quality and feature an RCV volunteer favorite, the Red Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus). Red Shouldered Hawks are very common in northeastern Virginia, but uncommon throughout much of the rest of the United States - there are only 4 large populations. RCV sees a lot of Red Shouldered Hawk chicks in the spring and both juvenile and adult birds during the rest of the year. They are tough patients - they are noisy, easily stressed, reluctant to eat, bitey and aggressive - in short, they appreciate exactly nothing we do for them and because their wild and untamable spirit it's hard not to love them. The cries of Red Shouldered Hawk chicks demanding more food is RCV's spring soundtrack, and by late summer we are glad to see them fly off and start their lives cawing in the wild. This is a picture of a rehabilitated Red Shouldered Hawk (adult) we released is summer enjoying the view of her new territory. :)







Please buy an awesome 2015 RCV t-shirt featuring a Red Shouldered Hawk! Your shirt will be delivered around Deember 15, just before the holidays, so they would be a great gift for the raptor lover in your life AND help to support RCV!

ALL of the proceeds from this fundraiser will go to buying food for our raptors, so every penny we get will help a hawk, owl, falcon, eagle or osprey in need!