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!
Here in Wyoming the average December low temperature is 17 degrees Fahrenheit. Add wind and you will have sub-zero wind chill temperatures. Yet many of our birds do not migrate to warmer climates. Others, such as Rough-legged Hawks even migrate into our area in the winter. We think of Robins as being the bird that […]
Whether you are a bird watcher or not, you have probably seen a larger bird being harassed by one or more smaller birds. This behavior is called “mobbing” and you may be wondering why the larger bird doesn’t defend itself. You are not alone. Many species will swoop and chase flying or perched birds larger […]
Did you know that many birds can see in ultraviolet light? The capability of UV vision was first documented in pigeons in the early 1970s. The National Wildlife Federation states, “With the exception of night-flying birds such as owls, the eyes of most birds probably are even more sensitive to ultraviolet light than they are […]
It’s summer, and you think you may have heard the scream of a Red-tailed Hawk. You look up, and see a bird with a contrasting two-toned underside consisting of dark flight feathers and paler underwing coverts. You are pleased, maybe even surprised, to see a Swainson’s Hawk -a raptor that resides in the western part […]
We humans love owls. Why not? With their flat faces and forward facing eyes they look more like us than any other bird. It is only the owls at our program that prompt people to go “awwwww.” But do all people love owls? One day I was holding Teasdale, our Great Horned Owl, when a […]
Within our natural world we are surrounded by amazing facts of life. In this blog I have presented 10 remarkable facts on the lifestyles of birds of prey and vultures. 1) Harpy Eagles are one of the world’s largest and strongest eagles. According to the Peregrine fund, their hallux (a raptor’s back talon) averages 3 […]