News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Friends of Cumberland Mountain State Park need your help to feed the raptors as the new year approaches.
The park features a red-tailed hawk, a barn owl, a great-horned owl and a screech owl in their aviary. The birds of prey have injuries and would not survive if released back into the wild. Friends of Cumberland Mountain State Park’s Laurie Snyder said taking care of the birds is not expensive, but donations help keep money in the park’s budget for other improvements.
“As far as difficulty of care, pretty much they take care of themselves, and they are able to eat, their food is dead mice,” Snyder said. “So, they think that’s great food.”
Snyder said the birds provide a unique educational experience for the park. To donate reach out to Friends of Cumberland Mountain State Park group on Facebook.
“We have an aviary at the state park close to where the office is,” Snyder said. “So, people can see them there, and they are brought out for various educational things, especially during the summer when the campers are there. They’ll bring each out.”
Snyder said the birds have imprinted on human beings.
“The barn owl kind of fell out of its nest early, and some nice person rescued him,” Snyder said. “He is definitely imprinted on human beings. So, none of these can fend for themselves in the wild.”
Imprinting is when a bird will identity with humans rather than members of their own species. It is impossible to reverse the imprinting process.
“People just love to see them,” Snyder said. “They love to see them. They love to learn about them, and it’s so interesting to see a bird close up, a foot from you, you know, as compared to flying around where you can’t really see them. Its a very fun thing that we provide for the park and the aviary provides.”
