California Raptor Center

At the California Raptor Center, our incredible volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. Every year, the CRC cares and rehabilitates 100-200 sick, injured, and orphaned raptors—our students and community volunteers are a huge moving piece behind this. ❤️

Volunteers feed and provide medical care under the direction of UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. From physical exams and caring for the nursery, to presenting educational materials and releasing birds back into the wild, volunteers help in a wide range of ways. 

Thanks to our dedicated team and volunteers, 40-60% of raptors taken into CRC are eventually released back into the wild. 🌿

Stay tuned to learn more about our stellar volunteers soon! 👀

Image Descriptions:
1. A volunteer holds a juvenile Great Horned Owl with both hands, wearing thick leather welding gloves for protection. The owlet has large, striking yellow eyes, fluffy brown-and-white speckled downy feathers, and visible talons gripping the gloves. The volunteer is looking down at the owl with a calm, attentive expression.
2. A volunteer stands outdoors holding a Barn Owl on his gloved fist. The owl, with its distinctive heart-shaped white face and golden-brown speckled feathers, appears calm with its eyes gently closed.
3. A volunteer smiles as she looks at a Great Horned Owl perched on her gloved fist.

See a few of the new raptors behind a record breaking number! 🤩

It is only June, yet as of Wednesday the 3rd, the California Raptor Center has a record breaking intake number for the 2026 year! We have taken in 113 raptor patients for rehabilitation, with patient #114 on the way. ✨

When most birds are taken into the CRC, they are first evaluated and treated for critical medical care at the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. Afterwards they are transported to the CRC for continued care and rehabilitation. While with us, they recover from their medical problems and regain strength through progressive flights in a specially designed enclosure before they are eventually released—but this process can take several weeks to several months.

Thank you to our community and skilled professionals for making this possible! Every patient is a win for our community, wildlife, and environment. 🦅

Image Descriptions:
1. A Barn Owl chick covered in fluffy white down feathers is held in two gloved hands. The chick faces the camera with large dark eyes, a pink facial disc just beginning to form, and a small hooked beak slightly open. The person holding the bird wears blue nitrile gloves and a white protective suit. The owlet’s scaled talons are visible at the bottom of the frame.
2. Four Great Horned Owl fledglings huddle together on a wooden shelf. The owlets are at various stages of development — some still patchy with downy white feathers mixed in with emerging brown and gray plumage, others more fully feathered. All four face the camera with striking yellow eyes.

Every raptor’s journey starts somewhere, and for many rescued eggs and babies near us, it starts at the California Raptor Center. 🐣

When eggs arrive at the CRC, they are placed in incubators set to mimic a mother’s warmth. Hatchlings are fed multiple times a day by volunteers wearing puppets and masks so the babies never imprint on humans, giving them the wild life they deserve.

As they grow, they meet their own species, learn to be raptors in the wild, and eventually move into hack boxes—the final stepping stone before their release. The door to the box is eventually opened, and they can leave on their own.

Through our Adopt-A-Bird program, your gift keeps this whole process going. You’ll receive a certificate of “adoption” (please send an email 📧 to [email protected] indicating the type of bird you would like on the “adoption” certificate), two glossy photos of a bird, and more information/stories about your nursery “adoption.”❣️

🔗 Visit this link to get started: https://give.ucdavis.edu/VRAP/V160BIR?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

Image Description: A close-up photograph of three Northern Harrier chicks huddled together in a ground nest made of dry grass and straw. The chicks are covered in soft white downy feathers with small dark beaks and eyes. Two chicks face forward while a third nestles beneath them. The background is softly blurred dry grassland. White bold text at the bottom reads "Adopt The Nursery" with the subtitle "California Raptor Center" in smaller text below.

“Mom, can we visit Ember and Citrine at the California Raptor Center?”

“We have Ember and Citrine at home.”

The Ember and Citrine at home: 🍏🍎

Forget an apple a day—we prescribe a visit to the CRC to visit Ember and Citrine! Stop by any time from 9 am to 4 pm on weekdays, and 9 am to 12 pm on weekends! 🦉

Image Description: A 2x2 grid of four photos. Top left: a green apple sliced in half, showing the core and two seeds, on a white background. Top right: a close-up portrait of a Barn Owl with a warm brown and tan heart-shaped face, looking directly at the camera. Bottom left: a red apple sliced in half, showing the core and seeds, with whole red apples blurred in the background. Bottom right: a close-up portrait of a Barn Owl with a pale white and cream heart-shaped face, looking directly at the camera.

Nestling or fledgling—are you able to tell the difference? 🧠

🪺Nestlings: Their bodies are mostly covered in fluffy, cotton-y down feathers; are featherless or nearly featherless; do not stand or move well on their own, and have no flight feathers yet.

🐦Fledglings: They are fully feathered with little to no fluffy down, have long flight feathers on their wings, and can be found hopping on the ground. They are a common sight in the spring and early summer!
Raptors spend a brief period of the ground as fledglings, and this is a completely normal stage of development, with parent birds usually nearby and still caring for their young.

If you find a baby raptor and aren’t sure if it’s in danger or abandoned, check out our “Found a Baby Raptor?” linked here: https://crc.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/found-baby-raptor?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio! 🔗

Image Descriptions:
1. Two wildlife handlers examine a Great Horned Owl owlet outdoors. One handler holds the small fluffy owlet securely. A second handler wearing blue nitrile gloves is near the bird. The owlet has wide yellow eyes, white and grey downy feathers, and a small blue identification mark on its head. Trees and greenery are visible in the background.
2. A Great Horned Owl fledgling is held in gloved hands. Compared to the nestling, this owlet is significantly more developed — its body is covered in full, fluffy brown contour feathers with very little white down remaining. It stands upright confidently on the handler’s gloved hand, gripping with strong, well-developed talons. Its striking yellow eye and defined facial disc are clearly visible.

In honor of Mother’s Day, Meet Toriel, a Swainson’s Hawk, visual surrogate mother, and Education Ambassador at the CRC! 🍃

Toriel arrived at the California Raptor Center in August of 2010 with an injury to her right wing. She was also born with reduced extension in her left wing and still cannot fully spread her wings. To improve her wing extensions, Toriel received physical therapy from professionals at the CRC, but it was determined that she could not fly well enough to survive in the wild. She became a permanent resident at the CRC, and because of her calm behavior around humans, she became a great candidate to be an Education Ambassador!

Toriel is sometimes used as a visual surrogate mother for young Swainson’s Hawk orphans that are in the CRC’s rehabilitation program. To prepare for their release, they watch Toriel perform natural behaviors and learn how to act like wild Swainson’s Hawks. 

✨Toriel is named after Toriel from Undertale, due to her being an excellent “tutorial” bird for volunteers learning raptor handling skills and young Swainson’s Hawks learning survival skills!

Image Description: A close-up photo of a Swainson’s Hawk perched on a green carpet-covered bar inside a wildlife rehabilitation facility. Its bright yellow feet grip the perch as it looks directly into the camera.

Petunia the Red-Tailed Hawk arrived at the California Raptor Center two years ago and has since become an Education Ambassador. Now you can sponsor her and fund the care and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned raptors brought to the CRC. ⭐

All adoptions come with an optional mailed package that includes: a certificate, a glossy photo of the adopted bird, and your adopted bird’s story with a species fact sheet. 
This also makes the perfect gift for a bird-lover in your life.❣️

Visit the link in our bio to get started on the adoption or learn more about the process. To learn more about donations, visit crc.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/adopt-a-bird 🔗

Image Descriptions:
1. A Red-Tailed Hawk perches on a diagonal wooden branch, facing slightly left. It wears falconry jesses (leather anklets) on both legs. 
2. A Red-Tailed Hawk stands on a diagonal wooden branch against a plain light gray wall. The bird faces slightly left with its body in profile. It wears falconry jesses on its legs, with a small metal ring visible on one ankle. The hawk’s expression is alert, with its hooked beak and round eye prominent.

SUCCESS STORY ✨

A juvenile Red Tailed Hawk was found on February 13 with signs of road rash after likely being hit by a car. It also had a feather lice infestation and absent palpebral reflex (meaning its eyes did not respond normally when the corners were touched). The hawk was treated and rehabilitated at the California Raptor Center for a month until it was able to fly and hunt again. A final exam was conducted by UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine resident Dr. Adam Moreno to clear it for release. The hawk was then released on March 9!

Image Descriptions:
1. A Red-Tailed Hawk is captured mid-launch, flying directly toward the camera at low altitude above a gravel road. The hawk’s wings are fully spread, talons extended downward, and beak open. In the blurred background, a person crouches in a blue shirt near a blue transport crate, with another person in a pink shirt standing behind them.
2. Two wildlife rehabilitators are releasing a Red-Tailed hawk from a blue ventilated transport crate on a gravel road. The hawk stands at the opening of the crate with wings fully spread, about to take flight. The person crouching and holding the crate open wears blue latex gloves and a navy vest. Behind her, a smiling woman in a pink t-shirt, sun hat, and lanyard badge looks on.