Ambassador Birds

Through a partnership with the River Raisin Raptor Center (RRRC) in Manchester, the Leslie Science and Nature Center has become the permanent home thirteen raptors who have come through the RRRC rehabilitation facility. Suffering permanent injuries and unable to survive in the wild, these non-releasable wild birds have been trained and now work to help their wild relatives by educating people about the issues facing raptors today. Some of the birds have been presenting programs for over 10 years and all are well adapted to large groups of people.

Trouper
(Red-tailed Hawk)

Our ambassador Red-tailed Hawk. Trouper was hatched in the spring of 1999. Apparently everything went well with her until November of 1999 when she found herself in trouble. She was brought into another rehab organization with a bad sore on her foot and her left wing was broken and missing all of its feathers. We're not sure what caused these injuries, however we suspect she was zapped on a utility pole. It was apparent that she was not releasable. Trouper has a special spark that made us decide to see if she was comfortable with captivity as an ambassador bird. She has adapted quite well to life as a well-fed educational bird, and retains a "type A" personality. Trouper has been traveling and doing public appearances since the spring of 2000.

Penny
(Red-tailed Hawk)

Penny is our second traveling Red-tailed Hawk ambassador bird. Penny was brought to River Raisin Raptor Center after a wind storm in 2004 knocked down the tree his nest was built in. He was found wondering around in a corn field. After taking a radiograph of his wing, a fracture of the radius and ulna was found very close to his wrist. Our veterinarian determined that Penny was unreleasable due to this injury and since the beginning Penny adapted quite well to captivity. Penny does very well at education venues.