On September 18th, 2004, the Southwestern Raptor Club held its 5th annual Open House from 10:00am to 2:00pm. The event was a great success with nearly 300 people in attendance. People who attended were able to experience various environmental activities, followed by a free luncheon.

Among the many environmental activities were nature trail tours, greenhouse tours, and on going raptor presentations. During the nature trail tours visitors were introduced to various native species of wildlife. The greenhouse tours introduced visitors to various native plants, in addition to various tropical species. Two different presentation sites were in operation throughout the day, one next to me refreshments tent and the other at the amphitheatre on the nature trail. The Raptor presentations, lasting anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour introduced visitors to many of the types of birds in our program.

Many of the birds in our program took part in the open house presentations, among these were our two American Bald Eagles (Indy and Libby) Also included in the presentations was our Golden Eagle (Lakota) and a number of our many Red-tailed Hawks (Nakomis, Montana, Jericho, Apache, and Bodacia). Also included in the presentations was our Great- Homed Owl (Typo) along with many of our other varieties of owl such as Barred and Screech Owls.

Barred and Screech Owls. The Raptor club would like to thank all of the people who were in attendance at the event we hope you left with some newly acquired knowledge or simply with a greater understanding of what our program is about. We would also especially like to thank all of those whose time, effort and donations went into putting this whole event together. Without you it would have never been possible. We can only hope that next year's open house is as successful as this one was.

By: Molly Merrick Raptor Club Reporter