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Inside!
Your LOCAL Media since 1918! Volume 107 Issue 01
www.tofieldmerc.com
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Wilma the hawk hobnobs with the locals Kari Janzen Staff Reporter
KARI JANZEN PHOTO
Predator Bird Services Wildlife Technician and licensed falconer Isaac Hickling stands with Wilma the Harris's Hawk during Claystone Waste's annual open house on Wednesday, August 21.
Wilma, a ten-year-old Harris’s Hawk of Predator Bird Services, was a popular attraction during Claystone Waste’s annual open house on Wednesday, August 21. Predator Bird District Manager for Western Canada Garrett Richaud, originally from Forestburg, said they have over 200 birds. “We work at sites all over North America, a lot of landfills, airports, and industrial sites,” Richaud said. Predator Bird Services breed, hatch, raise, and train most of their birds. “They are all trained when they're young. We breed and hatch the majority of our own work raptors. They are classically trained falconry birds from a young age. They are first taught to stand on glove, to jump for food, fly around, and fly back to us,” he said. Training begins once they have adult feathers, and is often completed before they reach one year of age. “Training starts as soon as they're hard-penned (when new feathers have fully grown and the quills have hardened), basically, once they have adult feathers and can fly. A lot of them train fairly quickly. In a few weeks, you can pretty much have a brand new bird trained pretty well. They wouldn't even be a year old when they're fully trained,” Richaud said. The raptor’s job is to chase away birds hanging around the landfill, mainly migratory seagulls that can cause numerous problems. “We fly them around site to scare the gulls away, and keep the gulls out of the working face. There’s the risk that when there's too many around, the operators can get motion sickness. As well, anytime birds gather in big numbers, there's the risk of them spreading disease. It’s also better for the gulls to find food at more natural sources, so keeping them out of places like this is good for them as well,” he said. Richaud said they cycle through raptors, but one bird can fly all day. “We're out here every day the landfill is open. We cycle through raptors, and they can pretty much work for the whole day. They like it,” he said.
Students will be heading back to school next week Kari Janzen Staff Reporter
Students attending Battle River School Division (BRSD) schools and Holden Rural Academy (HRA) will be returning to the classrooms following the long weekend on Tuesday, September 3. This year there will no longer be early dismissal days, instead the staff meetings that were scheduled on the early outs in years previous have been added to the collaboration and professional learning days for teachers.
“This year there will be no ‘Early Dismissal’ days as staff meetings will be combined with Collaboration and Professional Learning days on eight Fridays spread out during the school year,” said Adam Madsen, Principal of C.W. Sears Elementary School in Tofield. BRSD will no longer be sending report cards home with students, instead student’s grades will be viewed strictly online. “This year all schools in BRSD will be moving to Real-time Reporting. Printed report cards will no longer be sent home as a progress report and parents
instead will be able to view updates to marks and comments on progress through the PowerSchool digital platform,” Madsen said. This year C.W. Sears, teaching children from PreKindergarten to Grade 4, is hosting a welcome barbeque so that parents and families can meet the teachers during the first week. “To start off the school year C.W. Sears School will be hosting a Meet the Teacher/Welcome Barbeque on Thursday, Sept. 5, from 4:30 - 6:30 pm.,” Madsen said. “2024/2025 is going to be another great year at C.W. Continued on Page 7