Hey everyone Good day from Raptors Roost.  

I can proudly say that Uncle Fester has finally arrived at Raptors Roost NEC.  He comes from North Carolina Seabiscuit Animal Shelter.  His right wing was amputated below the wrist.  He does not fly well at all.  So he will stay with us permanently.  It will be a week or two before Fester makes his public debut.  Currently I am working on training him to step up onto a glove and getting him use to being around people.  

Turkey Vultures can do something most other Birds of Prey cannot and that is smell.  Turkey Vultures can actually smell dead things from over two miles away from them while they are soaring.  We call them Nature's Garbage Men for a reason and they do an excellent job at keeping nature clean.  As you may hear me say during my talks that Turkey Vultures not only eat dead things or carrion as we call it.  They also do 2 other things you may find rather disgusting.  Turkey Vultures throw-up when they feel threatened is the first gross thing.  It serves 2 purposes for them.  First the throw-up stinks and second it makes them lighter so they can fly away from whatever is distressing them.  The second gross trait a Turkey Vulture has is that is poops and pees on their legs.  It is called uorhydrosis.  Since birds can't sweat like we can Turkey Vultures keep cool by pooping and peeing on their legs.  Also we believe the acid in their pee helps keeps their legs clean after walking thru whatever they are eating.

We may think Turkey Vulture are ugly, but they serve a great purpose in nature!!!

Stay tune for there will be much more posted as Uncle Fester goes thru Trainning!!!

Hi everyone we have not posted for awhile but are finally getting ready to have Uncle Fester come to the Roost.  Quite Possibly this very week we will be picking up Fester and bringing him home.  Then will come training Fester to be happy to sit on a glove and be around people in general.  Keep checking back in because once we have him.  I will have daily updates on the Trainning of Uncle Fester for all to read!!!

Recently we have been out at Lucky Ladd Farms near Murfreesboro Tennessee and this next weekend we will be at beautiful Gentry Farms in Franklin Tennessee talking with people about our Birds of Prey and making new Friends.  Being able to talk to kids about our Birds is always an exciting adventure.  Sometime children don't even realize our birds are real and alive and to give them that up close experience with something that is living in their own backyards has been an amazing experience!!!  Hope you will get a chance and come out and see us!!!

Have a great week

Hi everyone we are just about ready to introduce our newest friend at the Roost!!!  We recently completed a new mew to house Uncle Fester!!!  Uncle Fester is a Turkey Vulture who had to have his right wing tip amputated.  He has been recovering at Sea Biscuit Animal Shelter and shortly will be comming to roost here.  We are excited to have him as part of our family!!  

I will be talking more about Vultures when he has made the trip here.  I will say even though you may see them as ugly they are amazing creatures.  They are Nature's Top garbage men.  Turkey vultures have probaly the best sense of smell in the Bird World.  

So keep checking back.  Hopefully we  will have Uncle Fester by the end of September.

Here are some Pictures from this summer at Percy Warner Summer Camp.  We went out twice to talk to wonderful children about raptors.  They stayed very engaged and curious the whole show. Each group was over 30 children and it amazed me how interested they were and the great questions they asked!!

This Saturday August 30th we are excited to be at Barfield Park at the Wilderness Station!!!

For us it will be Owl Day!!

Cooper our Screech Owl will be there along with Belle our Barred Owl our newest friend at the Roost!!  

So come out and meet our Nocturnal Friends from 11am-2pm!!!

Belle is a beautiful Barred Owl.  She is missing one eye which can be a little spooky but she is gotten along great here at Roost.  Before she came to us she got trapped in barred wire causing her to facture a wing and loose her eye.  She recovered very well and is fully flying but as far as her sight goes she will never be able to hunt well enough to be released back into the wild

Barred owls not only Hoot, but  also have famous call.  IF you are ever in the woods at night and here a " who who who cooks for you " you are hearing a barred owl call out.  They also bark, scream, and sound like monkies.  Barred Owls are nocturnal they eat mice and other small mamals at night.  Interestingly Barred Owls can actually become prey to larger owls such as Great Horned Owls.  Often Barred Owls and Great Horned Owls share the same home territory so the barred owls will try and hunt at different times than the Great Horned Owls to keep from being a tasty meal.  All Owls have fixed forward facing eyes and their eyes are actually tubular where our eyes are spherical.  Their pupils can let in even light that is barely detected by our eyes giving them great night time vision.  Owls hear extremely well.  They will always hear you in the woods before you ever see them.  Count yourself luckly to see an owl night.

Here is Belle watching some morning cartoons with my son!!

Hey everyone.  This Saturday the 23rd is Boy Scout Night at the Nashville Sounds Baseball game!!  Sadie and I will be there along with TWRA  helping to promote Trees and all things Nature.

Come out and get a picture with Sadie before the game!!  Hope to see you there!!