The Draper Museum Raptor Experience is an exciting live raptor education program at the Draper Natural History Museum in Cody, Wyoming. The Draper is one of five museums at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, which embraces the Spirit of the American West. What better way to celebrate the wildness of this wonderful area than by sharing some of its most spectacular wild animals with our guests. Visitors to the Center have the unique opportunity to get an up close and personal view of some of Wyoming’s most recognized predators – the birds of prey!
Our Draper Museum Raptor Experience has a new member of the flock! Our newest raptor is a young, female American kestrel. She hatched earlier this year and was most likely just getting the hang of flying when she collided with something (we’ll never know what), causing permanent damage near her left elbow. She was found […]
Many small birds utilize spider’s webs as they go about their daily lives. Although webs can bring benefits, they also present hazards. In this blog, I will cover both the usefulness and the dangers of spiders and spider webs in the lives of birds. Spider Webs Offer Good Building Materials Spider webs are made of […]
Our Birds’ Stories Like all the residents of the Draper Museum Raptor Experience, our American Kestrels are in our care because they can no longer survive in the wild. Our male kestrel, Salem, arrived at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West on December 30, 2013. He had been rescued by the folks at Second […]
Charles Darwin was certainly not impressed with Turkey Vultures when he first saw them. He noted, “These disgusting birds, with their bald, scarlet heads, formed to revel in putridity.” Yet he seems to have had a better opinion of condors when he wrote, “It is truly wonderful and beautiful to see so great a bird, […]
The Draper Museum Raptor Experience will be 10 years old in 2021. In honor, we are featuring the 11 raptors in the program. Salem is an American Kestrel, which is a falcon species. It’s the smallest Falcon species in North America. At one point it was one of the most common raptors across north Central […]
When people think of eagles, they generally think of a large bird. If asked, “what makes an eagle different from a hawk?” the answer understandably often includes the statement that eagles are larger and more powerful than hawks. In the United States, we have the Bald Eagle and the Golden Eagle. Both are large powerful […]