Raptors to the Rescue! Wildlife Ambassadors Teach Lessons in Conservation

By Madeline Strong Diehl

Like many people I know, if you told me in the summer of 2020 that the pandemic would probably drag on for two years or more, I would not have believed you. In fact, I would have thought you were a negative, defeatist person, and I would have avoided you like—well, the plague. 

I remember how claustrophobic my husband and I already felt that summer—so much so that we went out and bought a used two-person kayak so we could at least explore the Huron River watershed and nearby Metro parks. We had often spotted blue herons during our regular walks around Argo Park, but our kayak enabled us to reach places where, within just a few miles of Ann Arbor and other, smaller towns, we were able to see raptors such as hawks, egrets, and even a bald eagle. This brought me hope that, despite all the bad news about climate change, wildlife organizations located in the region around Ann Arbor must be doing something right. It also brought me much-needed distraction as I vicariously watched these magnificent birds in flight.

Raptors are excellent hunters because of their speed and stealth, and these characteristics also make them difficult to spot in the wild. However, residents of southeastern Michigan have an unusual opportunity to see raptors up close and personal at Ann Arbor’s Leslie Science and Nature Center (LSNC). The Center opened its doors to visitors in June of 1986, and it incorporated raptors into its educational programming in 2006. 

For various reasons, these birds cannot survive in the wild. Most have suffered an injury, such as a collision with a car. Others were born in captivity and do not have the skills to fend for themselves. But at the LSNC, the raptors are given the chance to maintain lives that offer them the same kind of dignity and nobility that have caused humans to revere them and identify with them since time immemorial.

The LSNC houses and cares for eleven raptors, and when talking to visitors on-site or during off-site presentations at schools, offices, and elsewhere, the birds’ caretakers, trainers, and handlers call them “wildlife educators” and “ambassadors” explains David Clipner, director of education and wildlife. 

“We treat our raptors as staff, and it’s critical that we give them respect because they are the educators, not us,” said Clipner, 42, a man with a long reddish beard and moustache and intense, pale blue eyes. “We make clear to people that the only reason they are here is because we can’t release them. If they could be in the wild, that’s where they should be. But since they can’t, we give their lives as much purpose and meaning as we can. They can provide conservation education by representing their wild counterparts.” 

Each bird lives in its own enclosure and embarks on its own individual training program. Feeding time provides staff with one opportunity to train the birds and keep their brains stimulated. During my half-hour tour, I watched as a caretaker named Lisa went from enclosure to enclosure, issuing the verbal cues that each bird had to follow before it could receive its food.

The birds are not given names because the Center does not want visitors to think they are pets. Instead, they are referred to by their species. “Eagle” is by far the largest bird in residence, and it was also the most active on the day I visited, flying in great excitement from perch to perch as it watched Lisa approach with its dinner. Lisa instructed Eagle to “wait,” but it took a few minutes for the bird to relax and respond to the verbal cue. Then Lisa praised Eagle and slid its food down a chute into the enclosure. I watched in fascination—and okay, with some kind of strange primal, visceral fear—as the eagle used its huge, scaly talons to hold down a dead rat while its razor-sharp beak expertly flayed, filleted, and disemboweled it in a matter of minutes. 

Clipner said that watching Eagle is a highlight for many visitors because she is so large and fierce. I asked him if children are ever afraid when they watch Eagle and the other birds attack their food, and he replied that many people do harbor some fear. “And that fear means that people are emotionally engaging with the birds in a powerful way. That’s an opening for us to educate and transform people’s fear into respect.”

Clipner said that Eagle used to provide even more thrills for visitors because she has been trained to take off from his glove, fly freely for about fifty yards, and return. But Eagle lost some of her flight skills during the pandemic because tours were discontinued in early 2020. (Both on-site tours and off-site visits by the Wildlife Ambassadors have started up again as of January.) Eagle is slated to begin her flight training program again in June, though Clipner adds that he can’t predict when she will be ready to demonstrate her flying skills for visitors. One of the red-tailed hawks will also undergo flight training.

Is Clipner ever afraid that Eagle won’t come back?

“No,” he said. “The Eagle trusts me mainly because she knows that I am going to keep taking good care of her by being a consistently safe perch and source of food. We do have a relationship with the birds, and they trust us because they know we will provide them with those needs. But they do not ‘like us.’ In fact, I would say they simply tolerate us. It is important for us to remember to thank the animals when we work with them—verbally, and in other ways. We have to remember not to become complacent. These animals are in captivity, and they shouldn’t be. Of course, working with them can be very exhilarating, but I’m an ape at the top of the food chain, and that’s stressful for them. I have to remember that if we are not careful, we could be the worst part of their day.”

After fourteen years of teaching young people about animals and the natural world, does Clipner believe that children are more knowledgeable now about the environment and the need to protect it?

“Yes,” he says without hesitation. “At first when I used to ask kids questions, most of the time they didn’t know the answers. And now, I will teach programs and most of them know almost all the answers. This shift is extremely rewarding and for us, as educators, it validates our mission.”

Clipner says that the LSNC’s educational mission would be successful without the raptors, but the raptors are very popular and draw a lot of people in. “In some ways they’re the carrot we can offer the public, and just as we are making every effort to stimulate the brains of our wildlife ambassadors, they are helping us to stimulate the minds of the people who visit here, young and old. The kindness they show toward us is in how they educate us about the need to care for the earth. They help remind us that we are animals, too. They inspire us to ask important questions, like how can we better connect to nature and the wildlife around us? They teach us that everything must stay in balance, and that we humans must be part of that balance.”

Visit the raptors at the Leslie Science and Nature Center at 1831 Traver Road in Ann Arbor. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. Call (734) 997-1553 for more information or visit lesliesnc.org.

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