Training at TRC

Mike Billington feeds Maxime the bald eagle.

We love sharing our photos of our winged ambassadors enjoying lunch. We use food as a behavior shaping tool (operant conditioning) as we work with our education birds. Since they see 200,000 people each year, it is important for the birds to feel comfortable with the different situations. We are continually working with the birds to keep them familiar with being on the glove, and in Phoenix the bald eagle's case, he is learning to step inside the travel crates we use for off site programs.

Maxime waits while Mike prepares a tidbit of food.

Education Program Manager Gail Buhl is training
Phoenix the bald eagle to be comfortable
in the travel crates we use for off site programs.

She is placing food inside the crate so he
will step inside at his own pace.

Brave Phoenix did step inside his crate!

TRC Give to the Max Day Video

Check out our Give to the Max video. The link to our giving page is http://tinyurl.com/TRCGiveMN2013.

TRC Thanks Veterans

Thank you to veterans for your service.

TRC on WCCO-TV

Dr. Redig talks about the importance of personal choice in ammunition selection during deer hunting season. Learn about how using non-lead ammunition can make a difference for bald eagles in this WCCO-TV piece.

Project Feeder Watch Starts This Weekend!

Many of our TRC friends love to get involved in science-based projects where they - and their families - can personally contribute.  One great opportunity starts this weekend.  It is Project FeederWatch.  Participants basically sign up to watch and record birds at their feeders for roughly two days each week in the program duration. This information helps the Cornell Lab of Ornithology track changes in bird populations across North America.

There are some new and fun additions to the Project FeederWatch website, including a tool for finding out which birds to expect at your feeders and what they like to eat, and some new Tricky ID pages.

New TRC Winged Ambassador American Kestrel

If you have visited TRC recently, you may have met one of our newest education winged ambassadors.  This beautiful female American kestrel was hatched last year.  She was admitted to our clinic with injuries to her right elbow and coracoid.  Her injuries did not heal well enough to be released.  She is now a part of our education staff who teach our message of raptors as sentinels to the environment we all share to almost 200,000 each year. 

Are You as Warm as the Turkey Vulture?

A couple of weeks ago, we posted about how our volunteers and staff are getting ready for the inevitable - winter in Minnesota.  

Nero our Turkey Vulture is a happy recipient of those preparations.  He is sunning inside his enclosure today.  With the orientation of the sun (you can see how he is facing it) and the Plexiglass that is now present around his enclosure, it is a balmy 67.5 degrees there as of 10:00am this Wednesday morning.