Tours closed until spring
Thank You all for your support in 2022. The center is closed for tours until spring 2023, anticipate late March. Please keep a watch on our page for firm date once winter has left us. Happy Holidays to all.
1 view2022 Raptor Rendevous November 6
Due to some still-existing Covid concerns, the size of the event will be smaller, and shorter. We will still be in the Melodeon Room at the Abe Martin Lodge but will only be selling 75 tickets so that people can spread out a little. Menu will be snacks/finger food instead of a full meal, and size of the auction will be pared down to accommodate reduced crowd size. We are running the event from 1PM – 4 PM with time to eat, shop and converse, and a raptor program featuring some new residents and some old favorites from 2:30-3:30. Auction will close at 4 and we will be checking out sales until 4:30. You will receive a program listing events, auction rules and names of auction donors and their businesses.
Tickets will go on sale as of September 15 and will be $30, please buy in advance so we can tell the caterer how many people are coming. You can send a check to the mailbox. You will need your tickets to get in free at the park gate. We will notify you if there are tickets left that can be purchased at the door. You will also get an email reminder when the tickets go on sale. HOWEVER please put September 15 and November 6 on your calendars ASAP. Thanks
22 viewsTours suspended for August 2022
Indiana Raptor Center will be closed for tours in August. We do have a few dates left in July. Tours will resume in September and run until some time in November, depending on weather, and Covid pandemic conditions.
3 viewsGreenfield Eagle Watch 2022 calendars are available
The Greenfield Eagle Watch calendar for 2022 is now available. All photos in the calendar have been taken by Greenfield Eagle Watch members. The calendars are $27.00. Proceeds from calendar purchases support the Indiana Raptor Center eagle patient housing, veterinary services and food. To order please send payments to:
Judie Custer PO Box 29093 Indianapolis IN 46299
Make sure to include your return address for calendar shipment
45 viewsTours of Indiana Raptor Center closed for 2021
The Indiana Raptor center is closed to visitor tours until Spring of 2022. We will post the opening date for 2022 tour season as the weather warms up, likely mid March of 2022. Thank You for your support this past year.
7 viewsRaptor Shows at Brown County State Park Nature Center – 2021
All ages are welcome to our public presentations at Brown County State Park. Final park presentations for 2021 will be held on Saturday afternoons at 2 PM at the Brown County State Park Nature Center. This includes all 5 Saturdays in October – 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30. The 30th will be an all-owl show in honor of Halloween!
16 viewsIndiana Raptor Center Visitation Guidelines for the Remainder of 2021
The Board of Directors at Indiana Raptor Center elected to open the InRC facility for limited tours in 2021. At the time of this update, remaining weeks for our visits include September 1-October 15, and October 30-November 15. To accommodate Covid concerns and to maintain a quality and safe experience for everyone, there are some restrictions we do need to place on these activities as follows:
- To respect social distancing recommendations, tours may contain no more than 10 guests, preferably less. Tours of single families are encouraged.
- ALL GUESTS MUST WEAR MASKS DURING THE TOURS. Please bring your own or purchase them at the CVS in town (available on a limited basis).
- People arriving without masks will be rescheduled.
- Please bring your own HAND SANITIZER – we have a limited amount we can share with you but appreciate you bringing your own.
- As usual tours are only available BY APPOINTMENT.
- Tours cannot include children under the age of 6, and all children must wear masks as well.
- Also as usual, the address of the center and other pertinent information will be given out at the time that reservations are made.
- There are no public restrooms at the center, but we can recommend locations to you when you call for an appointment.
- We reserve the right to reschedule your tour at your convenience in case of inclement weather, or illnesses affecting the tour guides.
- The center is, first and foremost, an avian hospital, so we ask that people please use “indoor voices” when touring. Smoking and alcohol are not permitted on the grounds. Children need to be managed by parents; no running or gravel throwing please!
- Tours are completely outdoors, and pathways are covered in gravel, so please dress appropriately and wear closed shoes rather than sandals, for your own comfort.
- Visitors are not allowed to touch any of the birds. This is a law established by US Fish and Wildlife Services. However, photos are certainly permitted.
To those who find these rules restrictive, may I point out that the center is not on business property but is located on private property containing the home of two of the board’s officers. We hope you can respect our desire to keep our home covid-free, especially as our family contains members with compromised conditions such as diabetes and cancer survival. We also want to protect YOU from other people who may be on the property at the same time!
Please call for further information and reservations at 812-988-8990.
We appreciate your patience with these rules and decisions and hope that all of you and your friends, families and colleagues can remain healthy and safe during this time of difficulty for people everywhere. May we all be kind to one another in the face of this health threat to the entire world and take seriously all calls for caution and restraint in public interactions.
We continue with our primary mission, to take in injured birds. If that decision changes temporarily, we will notify through the website and a voicemail message at our 812-988-8990 number.
All actions will be taken with staff, volunteers, visitors, off-site audiences, bird finders, and birds in mind.
Very Best Regards,
Patti Reynolds
President/Executive Director
Raptor Gifts for the Holidays!
It’s that time of year again, and if you’ve got raptor lovers in your life, we’ve got a shop for you! The Indiana Raptor Center runs a shop on the popular website Redbubble where you can buy a number of fetching tees, prints, mugs, tote bags, and more. Offering a selection of both illustrated designs and photographs, we think there’s something for every lover of birds of prey. Plus, your purchases help us in our unending mission to rescue, rehabilitate, and release injured and orphaned raptors.
Indiana Raptor Center Barn Owl and Triceratops logo sticker
Indiana Raptor Center Barn Owl logo tote
Indiana Raptor Center Barn Owl logo mug
Indiana Raptor Center Bald Eagle logo tee
Indiana Raptor Center Bald Eagle logo laptop cover
Indiana Raptor Center bumper sticker
We’ve added some new products this year as well! You can find products featuring our logos as well as our popular “barn owl and Triceratops” patch design! Head to the shop to browse the selection.
132 viewsIn other news…
InRC board member Domonic Potorti and Elmo the Barred Owl educate the campers at Happy Hollow in Brown County, IN.
Vulture Awareness Day!
Today is Vulture Awareness Day around the world. Vultures may not be the most popular birds among the general public, but they are vital members of the environment. They are facing a range of pressures around the world, most famously from diclofenac poisoning.
A few years ago, I accompanied Patti Reynolds and stalwart volunteer/ house taxidermist Markus to retrieve and injured Turkey Vulture. Her wing injury would prove to be of the sort that just can’t be fixed, but Markus, Patti, and Laura gave the bird their all in hopes of a good outcome. It is so often the case that the stresses these birds encounter before entering Indiana Raptor Center’s care prove to be too much, and the best that can be done is to provide a safe, stress-free environment for their passing.
Patti and Markus rescue an injured Turkey Vulture
An injured Turkey Vulture, rescued by Indiana Raptor Center
Laura Edmunds and Patti Reynolds tend to an injured Turkey Vulture
It was exciting to watch my first bird rescue. For my part, I got to hold a big net and help form a perimeter so Patti and Markus could nab her. She had not eaten recently, and therefore couldn’t manage the trademarked defense-by-repulsion method Turkey Vultures favor: good old-fashioned puke.
Bird rescue and rehabilitation is a tireless occupation, with many heartbreaks along the way. Please donate to Indiana Raptor Center to help us rescue and care for these birds. Thank You for your support.
