Fall Raptor Release Event 2015

The bald eagle "America" was released today by
Jeff Payne of 3M at our Fall Raptor Release
event at Carpenter Nature Center.
She is healthy, and ready to join
her wild cousins back in the skies once more.

It means so much for TRC to share this event with our friends! Thank you to all who came out to celebrate these wild raptors being returned to the wild. It is because of your support that we can be here to help these sick and injured birds back to their rightful place in the skies.

Volunteer Amy D. with Lois the great horned owl. 

Pi and Maxime the bald eagles had many photographers today!

Volunteer Sue M. shows off a male kestrel, one of TRC's education ambassadors.

Quite a crowd showed up today!

Dawn Krueger released a Cooper's hawk.

Jamaica the red-tailed hawk surveyed the crowd. 

Casper the red-tailed hawk has appeared in quite a few
Raptor Release events over the years. 

Pi the bald eagle certainly looked handsome this day!

Rainy Thursday in Minnesota

It's been raining for a couple of days here in the Twin Cities.  Some of our education winged ambassadors - like Bailey the red-tailed hawk - took the opportunity to preen feathers while it rained. 

Broad-winged Hawk Patients at TRC

If you follow our raptor clinic patient census, you know we have 12 broad-winged hawk patients right now. Some are in individual patient cages while their injuries heal. Others are in large flight rooms or in managed areas for exercise before their release.

We thought you'd be interested to see the differences in adult and juvenile (hatched this year) plumage and eye color, among other things.  These two photos were taken from the front and back of two birds.

Sept 5 is International Vulture Awareness Day

Nero, TRC's turkey vulture

Saturday, Sept 5, is International Vulture Awareness Day.  Vultures around the world play important roles in ecology.   Of the 23 vulture species, 14 are listed as threatened or endangered, and without proper conservation initiatives, their numbers will continue to decrease drastically.  Understanding the threats they face is the first step toward finding ways to help vultures.

TRC’s winged ambassador turkey vulture, Nero, celebrated his 40^th birthday last year.  He continues to be an important teacher on our staff for the more than 150,000 members of the public TRC reaches each year.  Dan Hnilicka, one of TRC’s interpretive naturalists, has been working together with Nero on some training.  It’s important to TRC to ensure that the birds have healthy bodies, and that their minds stay engaged.   Stay tuned - we’ll post some entries from Dan’s training journal very soon!

Answers to Identify TRC Eagles

The answers are: Eagle 1 is Gladdie, Eagle 2 is Pi, and Eagle 3 is Maxime.  Did you get them right?

TRC Eagles - Can You Identify Them?

Bald eagle 1

Here are photos taken today of three of TRC's bald eagle winged ambassadors.  They are Pi, Maxime and Gladdie.  Can you tell which photo is which bird?  We'll post the answers tomorrow!

Bald eagle 2

Bald eagle 3