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The Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) is a non-profit environmental education organization based in Quechee, Vermont. Its mission is to motivate individuals and communities to care for the environment through education, research, and avian wildlife rehabilitation.
One role VINS takes on is to bring birds back to health and release them back to the wild. VINS has federal and state permits that allow it to be able to have birds that can be used in educational programs. The teaching birds range from a Great Horned Owl to a Peregrine Falcon. The birds of prey, or raptors, used for teaching cannot be released into the wild because they would not survive. The reasons these birds would not survive can vary, perhaps the loss of an eye or because they were raised by people. VINS also has exhibit birds that are not used for educational programs; these injured birds live in outdoor enclosures. VINS has 18 enclosures that contain dozens of birds of prey.
VINS also holds several professional development workshops for teachers each year. At these workshops, teachers learn how to teach environmental citizenship and how to create curriculum around certain environmental issues. These workshops are not limited to birds, and can include a wide array of Vermont's wildlife, such as trout, bobcats, and vernal pools.
The VINS Nature Center in Quechee includes 17 raptor exhibits that house hawks, eagles, vultures, falcons, owls and ravens. The facility also has a nature shop, a classroom, several nature trails, a behind-the-scenes animal support facility, and a new exhibit consisting of frogs. There is also a flight simulator, where a visitor can feel as if one is flying. [1] The center is located 1/3 mile west of the Quechee Gorge along Vermont Route 4.
The peregrine falcon, also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, barred white underparts, and a black head. The peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching up to 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop, making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a National Geographic TV program, the highest measured speed of a peregrine falcon is 389 km/h (242 mph). As is typical for bird-eating raptors, peregrine falcons are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males.
Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person involved in falconry: a "falconer" flies a falcon; an "austringer" flies a hawk or an eagle. In modern falconry, the red-tailed hawk, Harris's hawk, and the peregrine falcon are some of the more commonly used birds of prey. The practice of hunting with a conditioned falconry bird is also called "hawking" or "gamehawking", although the words hawking and hawker have become used so much to refer to petty traveling traders, that the terms "falconer" and "falconry" now apply to most use of trained birds of prey to catch game. Many contemporary practitioners still use these words in their original meaning, however.
The great horned owl, also known as the tiger owl, or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its primary diet is rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles, although it freely hunts any animal it can overtake, including rodents and other small mammals, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. In ornithological study, the great horned owl is often compared to the Eurasian eagle-owl, a closely related species, which despite the latter's notably larger size, occupies the same ecological niche in Eurasia, and the red-tailed hawk, with which it often shares similar habitat, prey, and nesting habits by day, thus is something of a diurnal ecological equivalent. The great horned owl is one of the earliest nesting birds in North America, often laying eggs weeks or even months before other raptorial birds.
The prairie falcon is a medium-large sized falcon of western North America. It is about the size of a peregrine falcon or a crow, with an average length of 40 cm (16 in), wingspan of approximately 1 meter (40 in), and average weight of 720 g (1.6 lb). As in all falcons, females are noticeably bigger than males. Though a separate species from the peregrine, the prairie falcon is basically an arid environment adaptation of the early peregrine falcon lineage, able to subsist on less food than the peregrine, and generally lighter in weight than a peregrine of similar wing span. Having evolved in a harsh desert environment with low prey density, the prairie falcon has developed into an aggressive and opportunistic hunter of a wide range of both mammal and bird prey. It will regularly take prey from the size of sparrows to approximately its own weight, and occasionally much larger. It is the only larger falcon native only to North America. It is resident from southern Canada, through western United States, and into northern Mexico. The prairie falcon is popular as a falconry bird, where with proper training it is regarded as being as effective as the more well known peregrine falcon.
The World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, is the headquarters for The Peregrine Fund, an international non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves endangered raptors around the world.
The Cascades Raptor Center is a nature center and wildlife hospital in Eugene, Oregon that specializes in raptor rehabilitation. As of November 2020, permanent inhabitants of the center include 37 individual birds from 21 species.
The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey worldwide. The successful recovery of the peregrine falcon in the United States, which was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999, enabled the organization to expand its mission to include other endangered raptors around the world. The Peregrine Fund is headquartered at its World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, on a 580-acre (2.3 km2) campus with breeding and research facilities, an administrative office, interpretive center, research library, and archives.
The Raptor Trust is a wild bird rehabilitation center located in the Millington section of Long Hill Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, and surrounded by the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.
The British Columbia Wildlife Park is a 106-acre (43 ha) zoo located in Kamloops, British Columbia.
The Connecticut Audubon Society Center at Fairfield is a nature center and wildlife sanctuary in the Greenfield Hill area of Fairfield, Connecticut. Constructed in 1971, the center features classrooms for environmental education programs, live animals on display, natural history exhibits, a nature library, a solar greenhouse and a gift shop. Outside there is a compound with non-releasable rescued birds of prey, including owls, hawks, peregrine falcons, a turkey vulture and other raptors.
Jemima Parry-Jones is a British authority on birds of prey (raptors), a conservationist, author, raptor breeder, lecturer, consultant and is the Director of the International Centre for Birds of Prey.
Raptor Education Group, Inc (REGI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Antigo, Wisconsin, United States, dedicated to caring for injured or orphaned avian wildlife. It works with and temporarily cares for birds from endangered or threatened species "for rehabilitation and educational purposes."
Shaver's Creek Environmental Center is located between State College and Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in the Stone Valley Recreation Area. This is part of the Penn State Experimental Forest. The center operates on 7,000 acres (28 km2) and contains 72-acre (290,000 m2), freshwater Lake Perez. Each year more than 100,000 people visit the center, which is open daily from February 1 to December 15. The Environmental Center contains an amphitheater; classrooms; Welcome Center and Pennsylvania Nature Book and Gift Shop; herb and flower gardens; picnic areas; raptor center; and other displays and exhibits. The center describes its mission as follows: "Shaver's Creek Environmental Center is committed to extending the University's Outreach mission of instruction, service, and research. Through quality programs, we teach, model, and provide the knowledge, values, skills, experiences, and dedication that enable individuals and communities to achieve and maintain harmony between human activities and the natural systems that support all living species."
The Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center is a multi-campus nature preserve and educational center in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The NWDC is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation which includes a 611 acres (247 ha) mountain park, lodge, gift shop, and museum in Beulah, a small museum and educational center as well as an open-space park on the Arkansas River in Pueblo, and an adjacent raptor education and rehabilitation facility.
The Rocky Mountain Raptor Program is a 501(c)(3) non-profit wildlife conservation organization based in Fort Collins, Colorado that rescues, rehabilitates and releases injured birds of prey—including eagles, hawks, falcons and owls—and, through its comprehensive Environmental Education program, teaches the importance of preserving wildlife and wild places for future generations. RMRP has developed a national reputation for the treatment of raptor illness and injuries, cage design, volunteer management, community involvement, and youth development. Raptor patients receive fracture repair, wound care, fluids to combat dehydration, nutritious food, and regular medical attention to promote healing. Raptors that are permanently injured and therefore non-releasable may become an Educational Ambassador. These raptors are the cornerstone of our Environmental Education program, which makes more than 200 presentations each year throughout the region, teaching children and adults about the importance of protecting wildlife and wild places. The program's environmental education program, particularly in the K-12 sector, has developed an excellent reputation throughout Colorado. RMRP reaches more than 15,000 schoolchildren annually. Numerous outreach exhibits throughout the state reach hundreds of thousands of people annually. Rocky Mountain Raptor Program currently averages about one admission and several injured raptor calls each day, and 77% of treatable raptors are released.
HawkQuest, founded in 1986 by Kin Quitugua, is an environmental education organization based in Parker, Colorado, which uses participatory lectures including live raptors to help people "understand and appreciate the interaction of wild living things in their natural environment."
Bird trapping techniques to capture wild birds include a wide range of techniques that have their origins in the hunting of birds for food. While hunting for food does not require birds to be caught alive, some trapping techniques capture birds without harming them and are of use in ornithology research. Wild birds may also be trapped for their display in captivity in zoological gardens or for keeping as a pet. Bird trapping was formerly unregulated, but to protect bird populations most countries have specific laws and regulations.
The Living Coast Discovery Center is an environmental education center with marine animal, animal and bird exhibits located in the Sweetwater Marsh Unit of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge in Chula Vista, California. Permanent displays at the Living Coast focus on native animals and plants found in Southern California and San Diego Bay.
Donald M. Kerr was an American wildlife biologist and conservationist. He founded the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon. Kerr led the museum for sixteen years, helping it develop and expand to become one of Central Oregon's most popular tourist attractions. The museum’s bird of prey center and a high desert conservation award are named in his honor.
The Southern Vermont Natural History Museum is a natural history museum, at the Hogback Mountain Scenic Overlook on Route 9 in West Marlboro, Vermont. The museum is surrounded by the Hogback Mountain Conservation Area, over 600 acres of protected forest land, with views of three states. The Museum was established in 1996 around the Luman Ranger Nelson Natural History Collection, one of the largest collections of native birds and mammals in the northeast, with 250 species represented.
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Coordinates: 43°38′35.3″N72°24′42.1″W / 43.643139°N 72.411694°W
