By Avni Krishna

WESTPORT — Earthplace’s aviary is a special place in town, with beautiful greenery and loads of excited visitors getting glimpses of birds like those you’d see in National Geographic.

Species ranging from a crow to a red-tail hawk to bald eagles call the preserve home. Such birds of prey tend to have a diverse palate — mice, fish, and virtually anything else that moves.

To continue nurturing the injured birds, Earthplace needs your help. The organization’s food source has suddenly become more expensive, and a fundraiser is under way. Click here to learn more or donate. Gifts will be matched through July 31.

The birds’ food had been sourced from a medical research facility that would donate a wide variety of supplies that lasted all year. Unfortunately, after the outfit monetized that part of its business, Earthplace found it very expensive to obtain the food needed for the birds in an ethical and safe fashion.

Making sure the food comes from an ethical source ensures the animals’ health and comfort. But shipping the food with dry ice and keeping it fresh and crossing state lines adds to the time and cost.

That’s why the fundraiser, seeking $24,000, was recently launched. It’s about two-thirds of the way to its goal.

“Getting to care for these birds is really a privilege,” said Veronica Swain, Earthplace’s director of nature education and conservation. “They are amazing, and awe inspiring. They teach us a lot about ecology and the food web. And being able to have them here for people to see and learn about up close, to have the opportunity to see how they fit in the local ecosystem and how important their role is, it’s just amazing to be able to do that.”

The birds are sometimes taken out into the community for educational programs, acting as ambassadors to school groups, libraries and community centers.

The website states that $50 feeds Usher the crow for a month; $100 feeds Freckle the screech owl for a month; $250 feeds Moody and Marble, the wide-eyed barred owls, for two months; and $500 dollars feeds Chatty and Cerena, the bald eagles, for two months.

Westport Journal intern Avni Krishna is a rising sophomore at Staples High School and is the staff of Inklings, its student publication.