Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
(Above: Gordo, giving me his typical side eye)
Dora, celebrating the restoration of the primate chow supply chain:
And chomping on some leeks:
Nobody chomps like Willy B, though:
And no one reads as voraciously as Cy:
Rayne, taking a break from the grooming session:
One of the many bald eagles that have spent the winter around the sanctuary:
The elk herd paying a visit to the cattle barn this winter during the big snow storm:
The sanctuary is fortunate to receive regular visits from bald eagles throughout the winter and spring. While there are a few year-round pairs in our area, many are just looking for a break and a bite to eat as they migrate north. We often find them perched atop the pine and fir trees lining the front of the property, overlooking the Yakima River. It’s the perfect fishing spot.
While they do like to fish, bald eagles are also scavengers and you are most apt to hear them when they are scavenging larger animals like deer. Have you ever heard a bald eagle’s call? Before living here, I had assumed that they would sound every bit as majestic as they appear. Quite the opposite, in fact. They sound like a bunch of seagulls sitting around and laughing at each other’s jokes.
This morning, a couple of bald eagles were somewhere in the woods just above Young’s Hill, their calls echoing off the ridge behind the sanctuary. This is about the best chimpanzee enrichment you could ask for. The chimps weren’t scared, but they were intent on finding the source of that incessant laughter.
Jamie often walks the perimeter of Young’s Hill with her caregivers, but today the chimps also went on several patrols of their own.
By afternoon, we still hadn’t caught sight of an eagle. The day is not over yet.
Hank the Hawk has had some competition lately from a bald eagle that has been hunting at the sanctuary. Bernard, as we are now calling this new visitor, is almost twice the size of Hank, with a 6- or 7-foot wingspan.
Last weekend, he touched down about 100 yards from Young’s Hill.
We’re not sure if the chimps have noticed him yet, but the other day Negra was alarm calling like crazy as she looked out the window. Perhaps this is what she saw:
The arctic blast is still making life here miserably cold, but today the air was still and the sun was shining, so the chimps took the opportunity to spend some time outside. Jody seemed quite content at first, despite the cold.
She and Missy perched themselves on some stumps while Foxie and Annie explored the rest of Young’s Hill and Jamie patrolled the perimeter of the enclosure.
After a while, however, Jody’s look of contentment dissolved into her characteristic sneer of discomfort, or “cold face” as we call it, and she headed back to the warmth of the greenhouse.
You can almost see her cursing the arctic blast.
Jamie, on the other hand, is not fazed by bald eagles or arctic blasts.
