6:30 PM Doors Open
7:00 PM Announcements
7:15 PM Refreshments and Raffle
7:30 PM Main Program: Bay Raptor Rescue
*as a conservation organization we encourage you to bring your own mug for coffee or tea

Craig Nikitas, a retired urban planner, has been a wildlife volunteer working with raptors for over fifty years.His talk will provide an overview of 10 years of raptor rescue work, focusing on common issues necessitating intervention, and accounts of rescues of common and rare local species and techniques to help them.

Craig’s career has included caring for captive animals at the Randall Museum, Steinhart Aquarium, and the San Francisco Zoo, tending birds in rehab at WildCare, trapping and banding migratory and dispersive birds of prey for 30 years with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, and presenting talks on the natural history of corvids, diurnal raptors, and owls at schools, colleges, universities, local naturalist groups, park associations, the Point Reyes Birding and Nature Festival, and to professional staff at the Lindsay Wildlife Experience, CuriOdyssey, and the S F and Oakland Zoos.

In 2015, Craig founded Bay Raptor Rescue to provide a free service to aid predatory birds in distress. The work is done under permit from US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Cal Department of Fish and Wildlife. His work comprises trapping free-flighted birds in buildings, netting birds grounded by illness or injury, and transporting those who need veterinary care to local rehabilitation facilities.

Burrowing Owl