February 2020 Program

Raptors Up Close and Personal

presented by Nicole Nelson

Nicole Nelson of Wild Wings Recovery Center

Nicole Nelson will be the guest speaker at the Flathead Audubon meeting Monday, February 10 from 7-9 PM in the Gateway West Community Meeting Room in Kalispell. The program is free and open to the public.

Nicole is from the Montana Wild Wings Recovery Center of Kalispell, and will be assisted by Flathead Audubon’s own Kathy Ross and Barbara Summer. They will be talking to us about the Center, and about birds of prey, and will bring several live raptors for the audience to see “up close and personal.”

Montana Wild Wings is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Montana’s wild birds. Their primary mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and release birds of prey that have been injured, sick, and/or orphaned. Birds they receive that are too badly damaged to return to the wild are kept by the Center and used for educational purposes. The raptors that will be part of the February 10 program are in this category.

Nicole is a volunteer bird handler with the Center. She has a degree in Exotic Animal Training and Management from America’s Teaching Zoo, Moorpark College, California, and is now completing her B.S. degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Science at Oregon State University.

Her assistants, Kathy Ross and Barbara Summer, are also volunteer bird handlers with the Center. Kathy is a primary observer for Flathead Audubon’s Jewel Basin Hawk Watch, and is currently serving on the FAS Board of Directors. Barbara Summer has been a primary observer for the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch for many years, and was previously also a member the FAS Board.