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!!

So here are some wonderful Pictures from Wild Arts Day at the Wilderness Station at Barfield Park.  We had a great day and thank everyone who came by to say HI! to Sadie and I.  Hope everyone enjoyed meeting Sadie and learning a little about Native Tennessee Raptors.  Thank you to the Wilderness Station for having us and thank you to all who came by!!! 

Here is an Invitation to all!!

Sadie and I will be at Barfield Park from 10am-3pm Saturday August 16th.  We will be doing Creature Encounter at the Wilderness Station come out and meet Sadie and learn about Diurnal Hunters.  Bring your camera and come say Hi!!  

Greetings and Good Morning from the Roost!!

Luckily the weather here as been cooler for August.  Our birds are probably quite happy.
Anywho you are here to find out about our birds.

Who is just cute little guy you make ask.  This is Cooper.  He is an Eastern Screech Owl red phase.  He is an adult full size.  Cooper may weigh 200 grams.  He may be a tiny little owl but he has lots of energy.  

Owls are either Nocturnal or Crepuscular.  There is new word to add to your vocabulary today.  Crepuscular means dusk and dawn hunter.  Cooper is Crepuscular I believe.  

Cooper's general habits here at Raptors Roost are eating around 9pm-11pm a diet of either rodents or quail and then quiet until 3am or so.  Cooper loves to take a bath and will take a bath every night.  Typically the floor of his cage is soaked where he gets in and gets wet.  I think most of us can relate to splashing around in the bathtub at some point in our lives.


Screech Owls are common here in Middle Tennessee.  You may never see them, but you can hear them.  They don't hoot like you might imagine.  Screech Owls trill.  The trill will either be the same tone or ascending or descending depending on what they are communicating.  

Cooper is non releaseable and like Sadie he has a survivor story.

Cooper hit a house window one night and the owner found him the next morning taking him to Upstate Birds of Prey near Chattanooga, TN.  They rehabilitaed Cooper for a shoulder injury and they found him a home here at the Roost.  His one wing will always droop he does not fly well at all.  Cooper has been a wonderful education ambassador for us.  He is approachable, cute and calm in public.  

Last time you found out who I was now lets get to the important part who the birds are!!!

This beautiful lady is Sadie.  She is an Adult Red Tail Hawk as you can might be able to tell by her red tail.  She came to Raptors Roost this spring from Walden's Puddle Wildlife Rehabilitation in Joelton Tennessee.  Her story is amazing.  In the Winter of 2013 Sadie was hit by a car.  Luckily a kind person found her and took her to Walden's Puddle where she had a broken shoulder and seemed to suffer from Vertigo.  Because of their high metabolisim she healed well from her shoulder injury but not well enough to hunt for herself in the wild.  She now has a home here.  She loves to sun herself in the afternoon sunlight and she greatly enjoys each mealtime.  She typically eats quail, rodents, squirrels and maybe the occasional rabbit.  She weighs in at over 1200 grams (3 pounds).  

Red Tail Hawks are Diurnal Hunters, which means they hunt during the day.  It takes three creature features to make a bird a raptor.  First is their incredible eye sight.  Sadie can see a mouse about 100 feet away on normal day.  Second all raptors have a sharp strong beak to break thru skin with and lastly they have sharp talons.  All raptors are carnivores.  

Sadie has been a wonderful Education Bird.  She has taken to my glove well and doesn't mind being on display.  Even around nosiy children she does well!! Sometimes we even think she is posing for photos.

Well I am off to feed my feathered friends this evening hope you will continue to follow our lives here at the Roost.  Next time I will introduce you to a cute nocturnal raptor of ours!! Take care and get outside and explore!!!

Let me introduce myself to you.  
My name is Jenn Froscher and I am the dreamer behind Raptors Roost.  
I started a few years back as a falconer and maybe I should start even farther back with you.  In high school my Biology teacher had a non-releaseable Red Tail Hawk.  Helen was her name and when our class did well on tests we got to watch Helen eat or learn about Helen.  Helen was my first experience with Red Tail Hawks and it left an everlasting impression on my heart.  
Fast Forward to about 6 years ago.  My wonderful husband and I discussed I could become a Falconer if I wanted.  Being a falconer in Tennessee requires some steps to go thru.  You must pass a 100 question test with an 80% or above build a mew (Shelter) for your hawk and then catch one.  You have to catch your first Red Tail out of the wild and it has to be an immature or first year that does not yet have its red tail also you are under a sponsors watchful eye for a two year apprenticeship.  I loved being a falconer and hunting with a hawk.  They never love you but the hunting relationship you grow into is amazing.  I felt I would like to give back to people that love of Birds of Prey that I have and try my hardest to show people that nature is truly amazing.  That is my past

My present is Raptors Roost.  I now am a state and federally licensed Raptor Educator.  What does that mean you might ask.  It just means that I have the background to educate the public at large on Birds of Prey.  I currently have three Birds of Prey in my care.  All raptors in my care are non releaseable into the wild.  They all have stories and they are all survivors.  I will care for each bird I take in until they haved passed on.  My wonderful Husband has built mews for each.  He loves to build and create thankfully!!!  This is my husband and my son digging holes for our newest raptor of the Roost.  We are currently working on getting our federal and state permits for a Turkey Vulture named Uncle Fester you will hear more about him in the future!!  
Thank you taking time and checking at the Roost hope it was entertertaining!!   Next time you will hear about our resident Red Tail Hawk!

Greetings and welcome to Raptors Roost Nature Education Center!!

What are we?

Raptors Roost was created by Jenn Froscher to help raise awareness of Native Tennessee Raptors.  It has given many people the opportunity to have up close personal experiences with amazing birds of prey that they would never have.    

We are located in Middle Tennessee in Rutherford County.  We currently are home to 3 Birds of Prey.  As the blog continues I will introduce each wonderful bird to you.

Our main Mission is:  "Teaching Wonder and Curiosity thru Nature".

We do that by taking our birds into schools, parks, and camps to educate children and adults about what these birds do and how they do it.  During our programs we not only discuss the bird itself, but we talk about the anatomy, the hunting styles, and the lifestyles these birds live in the wild.  We always talk about conservation because in the end we need healthly wild populations of all these raptors.  

Hope you will follow us and enjoy what happens at the Roost and when we travel.  Having our raptors has never been boring and they are a wonderful reminder that nature is truly amazing!!!