The Avian Reconditioning Center for Birds of Prey

A big thank you to everyone who joined us for American Bald Eagle Day this past Saturday! We had a wonderful time and hope you did too.

If you captured any pictures during the event, please share them with us, we’d love to see them! Thank you all again! 🦅

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

At ARC, we are fortunate to have some incredible surrogate dads and father figures: Professor Slinky (American kestrel), Henry (barn owl), Araés (swallow-tailed kite), and Fisher (osprey). Thanks to these amazing ambassador dads, these young birds grow up learning natural behaviors before they are released back into the wild!

Come celebrate American Bald Eagle Day with us tomorrow! You'll get to meet Max and Ike, our resident bald eagle educational ambassadors, and learn all about these amazing birds. We will be open from 10 AM to 1 PM, weather permitting. Admission is $5 per person, and children 5 and under are free!

A couple of weeks ago, we shared some information on how the bald eagle came to be featured in the design of the Great Seal of the United States in 1782. That means the bald eagle has been the official national bird of the United States since then, right?

Not exactly. While the bald eagle has been our official national emblem for over two centuries, it wasn't legally designated the official national bird until 2024. Before then, the United States didn't actually have one!

Bald eagles may be big, majestic birds, but that doesn't mean they have a majestic call. In fact, the piercing cry we commonly associate with bald eagles in movies and TV is actually the call of a red-tailed hawk. A red-tailed hawk's call is loud and intimidating, exactly what you would expect from a large aerial predator. In contrast, a bald eagle’s actual call is high-pitched and chattery, often described as a sort of giggle or laugh.

Come visit us this Saturday from 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM for American Bald Eagle Day! You’ll learn all about our nation's bird, and if the timing is right, you might just catch our resident eagles, Ike and Max, chatting, or our red-tailed hawks, Sienna and Ruby, showing off their infamous scream!

When it gets as hot outside as it has been lately, Ike, our bald eagle, says the best way to cool down is with a nice bath! 🦅
We will be open tomorrow for our summer hours from 10 AM to 1 PM. Come on out and see us! Admission is $5 per person, and children ages 5 and under are free.

My, what big talons you have, Ike! As you can see in the picture, bald eagles have massive feet and completely bare lower legs. There is an evolutionary reason why they don't have feathers extending all the way down their legs like a golden eagle.

Bald eagles are classified as sea, or fish, eagles. Their scientific genus, Haliaeetus, translates directly to "sea eagle." Golden eagles, on the other hand, belong to the genus Aquila, which comprises the "true eagles." These are often called "booted eagles" because they have feathers covering the leg all the way over the toes.

In bald eagles, the lower leg (tarsus) is completely bare, bright yellow, and covered in rough, scaled skin. This lack of feathering is a brilliant adaptation for fishing. When they dip their feet into the water to grab a fishy meal, the bare, unfeathered skin allows them to dry off quickly, preventing them from being soaked and weighed down by wet plumage.

Remember, our summer hours officially start tomorrow! We will be open from 10 AM to 1 PM (weather permitting). Come out and see Oakley, our eastern screech owl, and all of our other amazing birds of prey! Admission is $5 per person, and children 5 and under are free.

The date June 20th, 1782, holds great significance for both the United States and the bald eagle. Do you know why?

On this day, the Continental Congress officially adopted the design for the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the bald eagle as its central figure. The final decision to choose the bald eagle took multiple committees and several years to complete. In fact, the earliest designs didn’t include eagles at all!

In honor of this historic adoption, we now celebrate American Eagle Day on June 20th. It’s also a day to raise awareness and celebrate the incredible comeback of bald eagles after their devastating population decline in the mid-20th century.

We’ll be celebrating bald eagles right here at ARC on June 20th from 10 AM to 1 PM with our bald eagle ambassadors, Isaiah (Ike) and Max! We’ll also be sharing more fascinating bald eagle facts over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!