This page will introduce you to Indiana Raptor Center’s education ambassadors; you will learn how special they are, how they came to live here, and how they help us teach the public about their important role in the environment, and in our economic lives through rodent control. It’s truly rewarding to see the connections these avian souls make with the community. Please take a moment to learn their stories. We offer tours of our facilities as well; please see our current tour information.
Resident Education Ambassadors
ELMO
BARRED OWL

Elmo arrived in 2009 at the age of about 2 weeks. Another baby arrived a week later and they were raised together as cohorts, meaning that they each had a constant conspecific (same species) companion to help them grow up knowing that they were owls and not people. Unfortunately Elmo had spent some considerable time with his finders, which we did not find out until his behavior became different than that of the other owl in his company. Elmo exhibited symptoms of mal-imprinting, that is to say, he had spent critical growth time being inappropriately handled and played with by humans, so to this day he is not entirely sure that he is an owl. His cage mate was successfully released later in 2009, but it is illegal to release mal-imprinted raptors into the wild due to their tendency to seek out human mates. Therefore Elmo resides with us and is trained as an education program bird. Elmo is very intelligent and we are able to play structured games with him – he is also broody and perhaps should have been named Hamlet, but he was named for his big eyes and furry feathers instead.
MOONSHINE
BARRED OWL

SIMON
AMERICAN KESTREL

DIGBY
AMERICAN KESTREL

MORDECAI
PEREGRINE/GYRFALCON HYBRID

TAKLAMAKAN
EURASIAN EAGLE OWL

MOWGLI
GREAT HORNED OWL

BEN AND PIPER
BALD EAGLES

FALLON
BALD EAGLE

C-14
Bald Eagle

C-14 is a 32-year old Bald Eagle that came to Indiana Raptor Center as a patient with a dislocated shoulder from a truck accident. The shoulder was not reparable but did form a false joint that allows her to get around in her enclosure, but not to fly free. She has settled into her new home like a Grande Dame in a fancy hotel, is very chatty with our staff, and enjoys the view from her enclosure. We know her exact age because she was part of the Eagle Release Program in 1987 at Lake Monroe IN the goal of which was to hopefully restore the Bale Eagle population in Indiana. As of 2020 there are now 300 eagle nests in the state. Based on her band records, C-14 left Indiana in her youth and wandered to New York then returned home to western IN where she raised 3 chicks a year for several years, 2 in normal years. She was a good mother and is now a happy retiree still showing no signs of arthritis in her damaged shoulder. When animals are banded for release they are usually referred to by their number, hence her name which has stuck with her over the years. One of the IN-DNR officers who recently retired actually released C-14 into the program back in 1987 – he comes sometimes to visit and feed her and she still recognizes him!
BOUGIE
EASTERN SCREECH OWL

GRENDEL
EASTERN SCREECH OWL

PENNY
PILEATED WOODPECKER

ZULU
AFRICAN AUGUR BUZZARD

MARIAH
GOLDEN EAGLE
Mariah is a 30+ year old Golden Eagle from Utah. She was not banded so our estimate of her age is based on physical characteristics such as condition of her feet, her beak and cere, and the concentration of speckles in her irises that appear in much older birds. She transferred here to participate in our education program, but her injuries from a truck impact not only included a non-reparable wing injury, but a severe concussion and partial blindness. It took her a long time to recover and acclimate, but now she is well accommodated and perhaps has enjoyed moving from the dry desert of the West to the leafy, shady environment of the Midwest. One can only imagine what she has seen out in that western territory – the storms, the animals, the movement of people over time, the great stone buttes and plateaus. Like Stormy, her younger counterpart, she would have been a mammal hunter and could have taken antelope in her prime. Goldens hunt by flying past their prey and then coming back low to the ground, following the terrain for surprise attack. They do not dive the way Bald Eagles do on fish. For those wondering, she is named after the West Wind, as described in the song “Mariah” from the Broadway play “Paint your Wagon”.
BAILEY
RED-TAILED HAWK

OBERON
COMMON BARN OWL

BEAU AND PHOENIX
HARRIS HAWKS

TOBY MARTIN
Red-tailed Hawk

Brandeau
Merlin

Tickle
Great-Horned Owl
