Joe Rogers and other employees from Wildlife Recovery Co. put on a nice program to a packed audience at the Jackson Audubon Club's regular January meeting.  Wildlife Recovery Co. rehabilitates raptors that have been hit by vehicles, shot or otherwise injured and whenever possible, returns them to the wild after rehab.  Joe and company had several birds with them that have had serious, permanent injuries and thus can't be returned to the wild, so now these birds are what might be dubbed as "ambassadors" for the company.  These birds will live out their days at the Wildlife Recovery headquarters instead of perishing in the wild.  Though they are in captivity, they are loved and cared for by the handlers.

Attached are a few photos that I took during the program.  Note that the first photo shows Courtney Bailey of Summit Garden Center with Wildlife Recovery's pet "racing" pigeon, which has "retired" from racing and is now a resident at the business.  Joe brought the pigeon into the audience and let him perch on some of the visitors' hands.  Joe had brought several raptors for the program, including a couple of screech owls, a peregrine falcon, a rough-legged hawk, a merlin , a northern saw-whet owl, a barred owl and and a great horned owl.  All of the birds were brought into the audience for the folks to see.  The younger, school-age kids really had fun seeing them up close!  During the audience walk-through, the raptors were firmly held in control by Joe and his assistants.

It was a fun and educational evening on a cool, but snow-free winter evening in Jackson.