Oct 4, 2024 | By: Sammy Holladay
Golden Apple: U of M’s Raptor Center Brings Birds of Prey to Pierz
When the average person hears the word “raptor,” their mind may take them to the time of the dinosaurs. Raptors are still around, but of a different sort. K-7 students at Pierz Public Schools recently had the opportunity to learn about modern-day raptors thanks to a presentation from the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center.
So what are raptors? As the students learned, they’re birds of prey like owls, falcons, and eagles. There are three things to look for to identify a raptor.
“They have strong, sharp talons. That’s where they’re named after, the word raptor comes from the word ‘repere,’ which means to grasp or grab,” explained University of Minnesota Raptor Center Interpretive Naturalist Catherine Hastings. “They have a curved hook beak, and then they have two eyes that face the front of their face. It gives them what we call binocular vision, which gives them a sense of depth perception.”
Like the three features to identify a raptor, the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center has three branches. One is education, like the presentations done at schools. The other two are done at the Raptor Center’s clinic in St. Paul, one of which is caring for injured raptors.
“That is going year-round all the time. We see about a thousand raptors that come through our clinic a year,” said Hastings. “Through that clinic, we’re also able to do some research. So we did a lot of work with avian flu this year to kind of learn a lot about how it’s transmitting through the environment and those kinds of things.”
For the presenters, working with the animals is rewarding enough, but seeing the reactions and the attentiveness of the students is the favorite part of the job.
“The people who are coming to see these presentations, they’re the people who are going to be in charge and who are going to be making the decisions and help us care for the environment,” emphasized Hastings. “So anything that we can do to make them excited, to make them curious, is always going to be a benefit to us and to everyone.”
The presentation in Pierz was possible thanks to a grant from the Savaloja Grants Program through the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, in partnership with the Bee-Nay-She Council Bird Club. The Savaloja Grants Program was started in honor of Terry Savaloja, a well-known, respected Minnesota birder who passed away in 1992. For Savaloja’s family, being able to preserve his legacy by inspiring the next generation of birders is a source of pride.
“Very proud. It’s very nice to see this,” said Savaloja’s sister Peggy Rosier. “And he at one time had said, ‘All you have to do is look up or look around and you’ll see birds.’ That’s basically where it starts.”
Savaloja’s sister Linda Nelson added, “People would ask, ‘What is your most favorite bird?’ And there is no favorite bird – it’s the one you’re looking at.”
The Raptor Center, during the peak season in the summer, will have a presentation every weekday at various schools and parks around Minnesota. During the winter, the Raptor Center does two to three presentations a week.