Big Mama striking a pose
The Wolf Conservation Center celebrated Earth Day a few days late with an exciting bird of prey experience presented by Master Falconer Lorrie Schumacher of TALONS! The dreary weather didn’t dampen the thrill of meeting, touching, and flying beautiful feathered ambassadors. Lorrie and her thirteen-year-old daughter, Talon, began by introducing our guests to a clever and very busy raven named Jewels. While Jewels hopped and stomped about outside the WCC classroom, the TALONS team brought out two Harris’s Hawks (wolves of the sky), a Barred Owl named Bella Luna, and Big Mama, the European Eagle Owl. Big Mama allowed the guests to touch her soft breast feathers and enormous fuzzy talons, and photograph her showing off her five-foot wing span! The owls evoked “oohs” and “aahs” from the group and loud “caws” from an unruly group of wild crows that gathered to guard their territory. Guests were given the opportunity to don the falconer’s glove and catch Machu the Harris’s Hawk on their fists. Children and adults alike were giddy; it was an experience of a lifetime! At the end of each program, guests visited WCC’s ambassador wolves- Kaila, Lukas and Atka. We didn’t see the red wolves but we heard their howls. If you missed this amazing program please don’t fret. We will definitely invite TALONS back to our neck of the woods again. To learn more about TALONS, please visit their website