The avian visitors each had a large white carrying cases, to protect them and keep them calm. From the first case, Tyler brought out a five year old Turkey Vulture named Apollo. While we see Apollo as a Turkey Vulture, he sees himself more as one of us; he was brought to the refuge as a very young bird after he had “imprinted” on his human rescuers. Because of this history, he could not be released to live with actual Turkey Vultures, although he was healthy otherwise. Turkey Vultures are nature’s sanitation workers, and we learned many interesting facts about them. For example, they hunt by smell, rather than sight or sound. Apollo was very well behaved, stepping around on Tyler’s gloved hand and occasionally spreading his wings.

The Red-tailed Hawk, named Aldora, is over twenty years old, and he is blind in one eye, making him unable to hunt. If released back into the wild he would not have the keen vision or depth perception neccessary for a raptor seeking prey. A handsome dark Red-tail with an extensive brown band across his belly, he too was extremely well behaved, staring at us with his good eye as we were staring at him.

We were not allowed to touch the birds, but Tyler had specimens:  the wing of a Red-tailed Hawk and talons of a Red-tail, Great Horned Owl and an Osprey that were passed around to the audience. It was surprising how soft the wing was and how lethal the talons looked.