This afternoon at Ijams

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Get up close with a red-tailed hawk.

Join us today at Ijams. Here's our program schedule:

1 PM Meet a regal red-tailed hawk, 

the largest hawk found in the TN Valley

With a wingspan of almost four feet and weighing three pounds, the red-tail hawk is the largest true hawk found in the Tennessee Valley. Meet an injured one we care for at Ijams. Free to public.

2 PM Meet a feisty American kestrel, 

the smallest bird of prey in the TN Valley

If the female kestrel (4 oz.) weighed as much as a local female bald eagle (9+ lbs.) she would dismember me with nary a sigh, instead she simply eyes my outstretched finger. She's focused. Watch me contain her. Free to public.

2 PM Gunless Turkey Hunt While it is a commonly held myth that Benjamin Franklin nominated the turkey to be our national symbol, he did indeed remark that the turkey is a “more respectable bird” than the eagle. Since Turkey Day is almost here, Ijams though they’d celebrate in their own turkey way with a gun-less turkey “hunt.” Join me on a trip to Seven Islands State Birding Park in search of these proud, feathered fowl, and try and decide if Mr. Franklin was correct in his assertion that the turkey is “though a little vain and silly, a bird of courage.” Fee: Ijams members $3, non-members $5. To register call 577-4717, ext. 110.

Such fun!

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