Ojai Raptor Center Spring Open House Sunday, April 10, 2016

[Chip]

This last Sunday (April 3rd, 2016) Thomas from the Ojai Raptor Center came to our LZ and released a mature Red Tail female back into the wilderness. He was kind enough to let us all watch as he released her, where she promptly flew to the ball fields to the south and perched for a while.

Thomas said she would likely stay there until she calmed down after the trip in the box to the LZ.

While he was entertaining all of the questions many pilots had, he mentioned the open house in Ojai this coming Sunday. As it will likely be raining, it might be worth the trip to see your fellow feathers.

Event info here

Spring Open House will focus on nesting season and all things baby raptors and birds. Nesting season is our busiest time of year and therefore the most important for community involvement and support


Open House Features:

-Informational booths with live, bird of prey education ambassadors and raptor biofacts.

-Stage presentations- ORC educators and director Kim Stroud, Chumash stories, and local ornithologist and condor expert Jesse Grantham.

-Our Raptor Store will be stocked with Organic tees, bird guides, ORC gear, and much more.

-Raffle

-Refreshments

-Kids corner

-Silent Auction with fine art, gift baskets, jewelry and more.

Share our event and bring your friends!

*Parking- Signage will be placed leading up to the center on Baldwin Road. We'll also have volunteers directing parking and traffic. Shuttles will run from our alternate parking lot on Burnham Rd. at Forrest Home as well.

*There are no dogs allowed at this event.


Here's one review from Yelp
What an awesome organization!

I discovered the raptor center a few years ago when I read about them in an LA Times article. I rescued some baby owls fallen from a nest and they sent someone to get them and could not have been nicer or more compassionate and helpful. They have a bi-annual open house that I can't recommend highly enough. It's simply fantastic, and is an awesome family event. They had demonstrations and activities for kids, they had a lot of their permanent birds (too injured or imprinted on by humans to release) out with handlers so you can see them all from inches away. They had displays of feathers and explained differences between the birds. It's extremely educational and a lot of fun. It's incredible to see these magnificent creatures up close and personal, and not in a cage. It's a rare opportunity for most people.

The location is really beautiful and the grounds are clean and the animals very well kept and medically treated when necessary. Their ultimate goal is to release every animal that they can, but they do keep or place every bird that cannot be released. They do education seminars at schools and other places and they also rescue all sorts of random other wildlife when necessary (foxes, possums, raccoons, bobcats, etc.).

The people who work there are very friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and informative. I'm pretty sure all or at least most of their funding comes from private donations so community support is huge for them.

I highly recommend this place and hope that you will check out their website (ojairaptorcenter.org), organization and open house.