Fidget's Freedom
Stacey Patterson
Hardcover
(Moonlight Publishing, July 1, 2006)
Fidget is a young peregrine falcon eager to try out her newly feathered wings. She and her brother, Echo, have been raised in an incubator until their eggs hatched by a caring falconer, and are now living in a cozy nesting box. The falconer, one of many who were concerned about the plight of the birds due to the use of DDT in North America, raised baby peregrines to help introduce them back into the wild to increase their population. for over a decade. When the nesting box is opened to release the birds, Fidget, the bolder of the two, ventures cautiously into the world to try her wings—and finds some adventure during her first flight. Published in cooperation with the Raptor Education Foundation, whose mission is to educate the public about the plight of peregrine falcons and other raptors. Stacey Patterson received a B.A. in biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She began an apprenticeship with a licensed falconer in 1988, and became a volunteer with South Bay Wildlife Rehab where she did raptor rehabilitation and participated in educational presentations. She became focused on the peregrine in 1995 when she turned a wild rescue bird into an adept educator and has never looked back. She lives with her husband Mark and a furred and feathered menagerie in Torrence, CA.
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