Iowa Raptor Project
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Our mission is to connect students and the people of Iowa to the conservation of birds of prey and their natural habitats through transformative educational experiences and collaborative research projects. The mission of the Iowa Raptor Project is to connect students and the community to the conservation of birds of prey and their natural habitats through research and education opportunities
10/08/2026
OWL-O-WEEN IS ALMOST HERE! 🦉 🎃
On Friday, October 23rd, join us after dark at Falcon Shelter for a fun, family-friendly evening featuring all things owls! Come and go as you please and enjoy live owls, a candlelight hike, s'mores, crafts, live snakes, owl pellets, and other family friendly activities. Our licensed bird ba**er may even net and band a wild owl to share! Costumes are welcome at this event.
https://events.uiowa.edu/event/37857/66645
10/07/2026
🚧 Heads up! 🚧
Planning a visit to the Iowa Raptor Project? Raptor Ridge Road will be closed Oct. 8–16 for repairs and resurfacing.
The Iowa Raptor Project will be inaccessible during this time. Thank you for your patience as these improvements are made! 🦅💛
10/06/2026
Inspired by reports of fellow Northern Saw-whet Owl ba**ers (Project Owlnet) north of us in Minnesota and Wisconsin, we opened our nets 10 days earlier than planned last night and were rewarded with a record early NSWO for Iowa (tied with 1959 and 1985)! (Also in the same net was an Eastern Screech-Owl that we banded on Halloween last year!)
What a start to the season! Sign-up for our NSWO Banding and other events here: https://events.uiowa.edu/department/383
(All banding is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory.)
College of Education
University of Iowa
Kirkwood Ag Sciences
Kirkwood Community College
In late January 2025, a Red-tailed Hawk was admitted to the World Bird Sanctuary's rehabilitation program with a traumatic injury to the tip of her* beak, possibly by a collision with an automobile. During recovery, the beak never grew back straight and she was deemed non-releasable. WBS offered her to us to serve as a raptor ambassador for our conservation education programming.
When we picked her up in late January this year, the WBS staff referred to her as "40", as she was the 40th raptor admitted in 2025. On the way back to Iowa City, we remembered that 2025 was the IRP's 40th anniversary and, more, that it was on another late January day in 1993 that Iowa Men's Basketball lost one of its most popular Hawks of all time: Chris Street. Number 40.
It was pretty clear that our newest raptor ambassador's name was already chosen: "40"! And how fitting to introduce her to you all, at this moment, when Hawkeye Football began the season with a 40-0 win and now will be at the center of the college football world Saturday with a 4-0 record!
Please welcome 40! We hope to have her on display soon, but are currently flight training her. Here she is flying between our two newest interns from the University of Iowa REACH Program: Leo and Carter.
Let's go Hawks!
*We're saying "her", based on size, but still need to confirm through DNA testing.
College of Education
University of Iowa
09/15/2026
Our last Raptor Readers is this Thursday at 4pm! Sign your littles up for this fun owl-themed story time and live bird meet-and-greet!
Registration link in comments!
09/12/2026
That time when the University of Iowa and Iowa State University worked together on the Red-shouldered Hawk project. Go Hawks!
09/11/2026
We are loving this photo of Little Horn sunbathing during his annual catastrophic molt! Many species of birds will molt all of their head feathers at once to replace them with healthy new ones. He looks very dramatic. 🙂 Thanks for the great photo, Dom!
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Address
3673 Raptor Ridge Road NE
Solon, IA
52333
Opening Hours
| Monday | 9am - 6pm |
| Tuesday | 9am - 6pm |
| Wednesday | 9am - 6pm |
| Thursday | 9am - 6pm |
| Friday | 9am - 6pm |
| Saturday | 9am - 6pm |
| Sunday | 9am - 6pm |
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