Guess TRC's 40th Clinic Patient

2014 is TRC's 40th anniversary! We have lots of plans we want you all to be a part of, so keep watching for news. To start us off, we'd like you to guess WHEN (month/day) our 40th raptor clinic patient will be admitted in 2014. You can also try your hand at guessing which species it will be. We'll keep this running until that 40th patient is admitted. Click on the link with this post, or go to our website; the webpage to submit answers is on our homepage slideshow. We'll post the progress of the guesses here, on our Facebook page, and on that webpage. Good luck!

Jamaica's Enrichment Artwork

 Since it has been very cold outside in Minnesota, we bring some of our education ambassadors inside for enrichment opportunities. Jamaica, one of our red-tailed hawk ambassadors since 1985, enjoyed some enrichment indoors recently in three mediums - newspaper, brown paper, and rope. We discovered she enjoyed "working in paper" when she shredded her original nametag sign.

How Can Technology Help Birds?

We wanted to share this story from the New York Times on how folks just like you can help researchers collect information on birds.  The article focuses on the increased reports and sightings of snowy owls this season.  Utilizing sites such as e-bird can track occurrences, locations, and timing, and look for patterns and other ways to extrapolate information on populations of birds.  (Here is a link to the snowy owl e-bird tracker.)

TRC in Nature Magazine

A photo of TRC volunteer Terry H. was recently in the magazine Nature.  It is their 365 days: Images of the Year. 

Happy Holidays from The Raptor Center

Please accept our wishes for happy and safe holidays, and our thanks for your support this year.  We truly could not accomplish so much without your help. 

TRC on North Suburban Beat

Recently, TRC was featured on a local show called North Suburban Beat (channel CTV).  If you click on the link here, go to December 11, and the story about our plans for new construction at the center is about 16:20 into the show.

Flight Enrichment for Whisper the Barn Owl

As you've read from some of our past posts, we work with our winged ambassadors on ways to keep their minds as healthy as their bodies.  Our staff designs enrichment opportunities for the birds, that do require training for them. 

Because of the colder temperatures, Whisper the Barn Owl has not been outside in her mews.  Interpretive naturalist staff member Molly Gezella-Baranczyk has been working with Whisper indoors.  Since Whisper is an imprint, and does not have physical disabilities, one enrichment we are training her to do is to learn to fly to different points to receive her food.