Birds Of Prey

W A R E A G L E

“War Eagle” is a common expression around Auburn University, and the school is known for the rounds that an eagle takes before each home football game. But what many people do not take into consideration is the extraordinary work that a certain group of people puts in for our beloved War Eagle.

Raptors are birds of prey with features that distinguish them from normal birds. All raptors have hooked beaks, sharp talons, keen eyesight and are carnivorous. So, who would volunteer to train, take care of and rehabilitate these feared creatures?

The Southeastern Raptor Center’s staff has no issue dealing with these birds.

The SRC is a gated facility just off Shug Jordan Parkway. At the SRC, you will find two main components: an education center and a rehabilitation facility. Both of these branches are crucial to the purpose that the SRC serves.

“The Raptor Center has two main parts. We are a part of the College of Veterinary Medicine, so we have our rehabilitation section that takes in about 300 sick, injured or orphaned raptors each year,” said Assistant Director of Raptor Training and Education Andrew Hopkins. “Then we also have our education side, which has a collection of 22 educational ambassadors that are used in presentations throughout the state and Southeast.”

These are not the average education ambassadors that are going to these presentations; these are the in-house raptors from the SRC.

The SRC does approximately 300 educational presentations each year. This makes up most of what the educational side of the Raptor Center does. However, training their raptors for these shows is important to what these educators do.

From time to time, the SRC holds public showings, such as its Wing Fling events in the spring.

“We have a couple of presentations in the spring, they’re called Wing Flings,” Hopkins said. “They’re basically like our Football Fans and Feathers event that we hold during the fall.”

At Wing Fling, eagles, hawks and other raptors fly around the Edgar B. Carter Educational Amphitheater. All proceeds from ticket sales help fund the work of the SRC.

Hopkins said it is a year-round task to train these raptors for shows, as well as actually carrying out the shows for which they are training for.

The raptors that inhabit the SRC are non-releasable. This is due to both injury and human imprinting. Since these raptors rely on precision to live in the wild, even the smallest injuries can leave them at a major disadvantage. However, some of these raptors were taken in and intended to be released but could not be due to a variety of reasons. These are the raptors that are trained for the SRC’s educational shows.

At the SRC, there are 24 mews in which the raptors live. Among these raptors are various hawks, vultures, falcons, kites and eagles. Most of the eagles at the SRC have flown at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and two continue to do so.

The SRC is home to Nova, who first flew in 2004 and last flew in 2016; Spirit, who flew from 2002 to 2021; Aurea, who has flown since 2018 and Independence, who just began flying this last season. Tiger, or War Eagle VI, was previously housed at the SRC. Tiger began the tradition of flying in the stadium in 2000 and did so until 2006. The eagle passed in 2014.

Golden Eagles Nova and Aurea are War Eagle VII and War Eagle VIII, respectively, while bald eagles Spirit and Independence were not designated with official War Eagles titles. However, Spirit was named an Honorary War Eagle upon her retirement from stadium flight in 2021 by the Auburn University Board of Trustees because of her 20 years of service to the Auburn family, according to the SRC.

Hopkins said he believes that educating the public on raptor species is an important task.

“A lot of the public doesn’t get to see these raptors up close,” he said. “And really, we think that by allowing the public to see these raptors up close, they can form a deeper appreciation for them. These raptors are topof-the-line, apex predators, and since they’re at the top of the food chain, they can often notify us about problems in the food chain and environment.”

Hopkins provided a great deal of insight on how the SRC educates the public on raptors, why the public needs to be educated on raptors and on raptors, themselves. The ultimate goal of the educational unit of the

SRC is to inform the public on a key part of an ecosystem and allow those who are interested in them to get a more personal learning experience.

Aside from the work done in education, the SRC, being part of the College of Veterinary Medicine, focuses largely on rehabilitating raptors from the wild, too.

“Our first goal is to rehabilitate injured, ill or orphaned native raptor species in the southeast,” said Raptor Rehab Specialist Stephanie Kadletz. “We also strive to release these raptors back into the wild whenever possible.”

Along with many graduated professionals at the SRC, Kadletz said that the SRC also works with fourth-year clinical veterinary students.

“They get to come out here to the Raptor Center on clinical

rotations and learn about raptor medicine,” Kadletz said.

Kadletz gave answers to why the Raptor Center does what they do. She said that since humans have so much impact on the environment, they need to work to ensure that their effect on the environment is good, which includes working with these raptors to see them flourish in the wild.

According to the SRC’s website, raptors can be brought into the rehabilitation clinic by the general public, other raptor facilities and government agencies. The SRC typically only accepts raptors from the southeast and will not take any birds that are not birds of prey, as they only specialize in raptor medicine.

“Anything we can do to mitigate these raptors’ injuries because maybe they got hit by a car or they got into a humanreleased toxin, contributes to the success of the species,” Kadletz said.

The mix of educational and rehabilitation experience at the Raptor Center is why it is effective in its mission. When the educational team goes from school to school or hosts local events, new groups of people are introduced to raptors and their natural contributions.

“A lot of your raptor populations are in decline, and so anything that we can do to help that in our rehabilitation efforts is going to positively impact raptors in the wild,”

Kadletz said.

By allowing the public to see these raptors in action, informing them on the importance of their survival and letting people know about the useful services that the Raptor Center provides, the SRC is working tirelessly to spread awareness about important parts of our ecosystems.

The SRC has mews for the birds to live in comfortably, and has the tools it needs to aid an injured or ill raptor.

Each day, the raptors are fed a diet similar to their natural diets. The educational raptors are trained in a secure

environment where their human imprinting or injury is not a problem for their survival, and for those in rehabilitation, they can gain the proper strength to go back into the wild.

The SRC is renowned for its work. Since its founding in 1972, the SRC has treated thousands of raptors and has cared for or released many back into the wild.

And according to its website, the educational program is not bound by state lines. Raptor presentations have been done all throughout the southeast. Shows have been taken to Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee and, of course, Alabama.

The SRC allows for private tours of its facility, and even puts on private shows at its on-site amphitheater. There are private shows at the SRC, but it can also be booked elsewhere. All money collected from these programs goes right back to the raptors.

Overall, the SRC achieves its mission of providing care to these beautiful creatures. It has made great strides in educating the general public on a group of animals that many may not be familiar with.

Raptors are much more than just birds and beasts. They help balance an ecosystem, and the SRC said it believes it is vital that their population does not decline.

“People need the opportunity to see these animals up close, and when they do, they can have a greater appreciation for them,” Hopkins said.