A Walk on the Wild Side—a Raptor Rendezvous

Huntersville, North Carolina (April 5,2024) What bird comes to mind when you hear the word ‘raptor?’ Eagle? Hawk? Osprey? Yes! Yes! And yes! But, as Debra, Sarah, and I learned this day, this short list is the proverbial tip of the iceberg when it comes to raptors.

In fact, there are an estimated 482 species of raptors worldwide—on every continent except Antarctica—including falcons, owls, and vultures. Who’d of known? Certainly not me before this day—the day Debra, Sarah, and I had a rendezvous with more than two dozen species of raptors and other avian hunters as we meandered along a three-quarter mile loop trail at the Carolina Raptor Center in Huntsville, North Carolina.  

(Click on any of the photos in this story to enlarge the image.)

I learned of the Carolina Raptor Center when I researched ‘Top Attractions Around Charlotte.’

“Take a walk on the wild side,” the blurb I read said. “Over 30 species of raptors and other birds of prey are featured on this walk. No bird brains here!”

“Debra, would you be interested in spending a couple of hours at a raptor center?” I asked my wife...and then told her a bit about it. This was a rhetorical question, of course, because Debra LOVES birds. Still, I waited…but only a heartbeat before she replied, “YES!”

David (our son) could not join us—“Sorry, I have to work,” he said—but Sarah (his girlfriend) did. We picked her up at 10AM, and reached the Carolina Raptor Center, located on 18 acres in the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve north of Charlotte, in 20 minutes. The weather was picture perfect—the temperature was in the low 60s, the sky was mostly sunny, and there was a slight breeze from the northwest.

To ignite a passion for raptors and a responsibility for our shared natural world.
~ the Raptor Center’s Mission Statement​

We came for the Raptor Trail, which began and ended at the Visitors Center. Although the shaded trail was short, it took nearly two and one-half hours to navigate as we read storyboards about each of the more than two dozen birds we saw and enjoyed two interactive experiences—a keeper-talk on Abyssinian ground hornbills and a flight demonstration (a ‘fly-by’) with a black vulture. 

There are three main elements to this center, which was “hatched” in 1975—a hospital for sick, injured, and orphaned raptors; an education program “to engage visitors in learning about raptors and their conservation;” and a trail “where visitors can walk and observe various species of birds of prey in a natural setting.” 

It was at the keeper chat—the staff member’s name was Lacey—where we learned about raptors in general. 

“Raptors are carnivorous birds of prey, which means they are meat-eaters,” she began. “All raptors share three important characteristics: keen eyesight, eight sharp talons, and a hooked beak.” And then she produced this skull and claw. I held the claw and can attest to how sharp the talons were!

Then, Lacey talked about the Abyssinian ground hornbills in a nearby enclosure. 
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“These birds are from sub-Saharan Africa,” she began. “Both our birds are female—we named them Cleo and Mabel.”

“Take a close look at their eyes,” Lacey said. “Do you see their eyelashes? They’re not eyelashes like you and I have. Rather, they are specialized feathers that protect the hornbill’s eyes from debris and dust as they hunt prey near herds of grazing animals.”

Gotta love nature, I thought.

We watched the hornbills as they ‘hunted’ for worms placed inside a cereal box filled with leaves and twigs. They poked their large beaks into the box, pulled out the debris, and quickly spotted, snatched up, and swallowed the worms. And when they were done with the worms, Lacey tossed chicks to them—dead, not alive—a half-dozen each, which they caught in their beaks and swallowed whole with a slight tilt back of their head. Yep, we WERE on the wild side of nature! 

The most exotic-looking bird, the gray crowned crane, was neither a raptor nor other bird of prey, although it ate small reptiles and amphibians, as well as insects, seeds, nuts, and grasses.

These long-legged birds with white, black, and gray feathers and red facial skin, sported a crown of stiff golden feathers. It was no wonder, then, that they were also known as the golden crested crane. 

As a fan of western novels—my favorite author is Louis L’Amour—I chuckled when I saw these cranes, as they reminded me of dance hall girls, the so-called painted ladies of the Old West, who performed eye-high kicks like modern day Rockettes. 

The storyboard included this fun fact: 

We Grow Like Weeds

Within a day of hatching, they can walk, swim, and float, following their parents around looking for food. They fly in as little as two months.

My comment on painted ladies aside, I believe these cranes were a mated pair, as several times they trumpeted for 10-15 seconds—two distinctive guttural sounds honked as though they were talking with one another. And then they struck this loving pose, which in my mind’s eye, resembled a heart. 

Did you know that a condor was a vulture? I didn’t…but I learned so on this day. I did know, though, that condors were the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere, weighing up to 33 pounds with a maximum wingspan of more than 10 feet. I had the good fortune to watch several California condors in flight when I visited Page, Arizona, last year. They were majestic flyers! 

The turkey vulture—so-called because it resembled a male wild turkey—with its back to us and its wings spread looked like it was hiding something from our view. It wasn’t of course; rather, it spread its wings to the sun to help warm its body, much as I might lift my face to the sun for the same purpose.

There were a handful of exhibits along the trail, including “What’s Your Wingspan?” Not-quite-five-foot Debra matched up with a red-tailed hawk, about 4.5 feet, while Sarah, who stood a head taller, approached the 6.5-foot wingspan of a bald eagle. 

We loved our ‘walk on the wild side,’ our rendezvous with many beautiful and interesting raptors and other birds of prey. We had an awesome experience, and the Carolina Raptor Center was an excellent place to visit!

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A week or so after Debra and I returned home, I explored the center’s website as I began to write this story. It was chock full of information. I also found a quiz, What Raptor Are You?, through which I discovered the raptor I was like by answering eight questions about my likes and traits, including ‘If you were looking you will find me…’ and ‘My favorite food is…’.

I thought for sure I was an eagle, as I picked the noble eagle—'both physically and spiritually strong'—from a deck of 44 animal spirit cards during a self-discovery activity I participated in many years back. But not this time as I learned with the last click in the quiz…

Sounds like you’re an outdoorsy type with keen observation skills. You’re a hawk! Hawks have incredible eyesight; they can see a mouse from over a football field away! Hawks are keen, adaptable, and confident.

Okay, I thought, I can live with being a hawk, which represented ‘courage, keen observation, and intuition.’

If you fancy yourself as a raptor, CLICK HERE to learn which raptor you are.