Posted
By Melissa Perez-Carrillo
on Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 3:59 PM
click to enlarge
Photo by Michelle McKee & Avian Reconditioning Center, courtesy the Audubon Center
Patient 53 making a speedy recovery.
The Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland rehabilitated 784 raptors in 2020 and was able to release 54 percent of these birds back into the wild.
Since its founding in 1979, the Center has released thousands of raptors —birds of prey like hawks, owls, vultures, falcons or eagles — including over 600 bald eagles.
The Center was closed from March through September last year due to the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic posed to the Center's work, not to mention safely accommodating volunteers and visitors. Currently, with the pandemic in mind, staff has set up an outdoor tent for new feathered patients, allowing members of the community to safely drop off any injured birds in an open-air and socially distanced fashion.