Date: Saturday, February 7
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Trip Location: Rocky Mountain Raptor Program, 720 E Vine Dr, Fort Collins, CO 80524
Trip Leaders: Courtney Rella and Dave Sutherland
Participant Limit: 14 Teen Naturalists. A waitlist will be available if the trip fills.
Due to limited space, only Teen Naturalists and the BCAS Trip leaders will be allowed on the tour (unless fewer than 14 Teen Naturalists sign up; max tour size is 15).
Teen Naturalists will learn about rehabilitation management and how the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program trains and coordinates volunteers and staff to provide care to the raptors 365 days every year. Trip Leader Courtney Rella is a volunteer with Rocky Mountain Raptor Program and will lead us through what it takes to rehabilitate raptors and why it is important. The tour will include a visit by some of our ambassador raptors as the rehabilitating raptors are not permitted to be on display. Measures the teens can take to prevent raptor injuries, injuries, therapies, and issues involved in caring for raptors are also discussed.
During this tour, you will be walking and standing on concrete floors and gravel or other uneven surfaces. Tours take you both inside and outside, so please dress for the weather. Closed toed, easy to walk in shoes are recommended. Only some of the facility is wheelchair accessible.
Registration Required: To register or for any questions, contact Dave Sutherland, dsutherland4747@gmail.com (720) 626 1797
Rough-legged Hawk. Photo by Stephen Jones.
Learn more about Boulder County Audubon’s Teen Naturalist program or send questions to Dave Sutherland, dsutherland4747@gmail.com or (720) 626-1797.
Who Can Participate?: Outings are open to unaccompanied students in sixth grade and up, as well as younger students accompanied by parents. New participants are welcome at any time.
Transportation: Participants must provide their own transportation to teen naturalist trips. A participant list will be shared if participants want to coordinate carpooling among themselves. If you don’t want your contact information shared with other participants, please include this when you register.
Trip Leader Bios
Courtney Rella is a dedicated volunteer and advocate for bird conservation and environmental education, with a strong focus on raptors and avian ecology. She serves as a docent and educational outreach volunteer with the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program, where she works with permanently disabled raptor ambassadors for enrichment and to engage the public through learning and conservation messaging. She is also involved with the Denver Field Ornithologists as a field trip leader and conservation board member, with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies as a raptor nest monitor, and with Longmont Raptor Watch contributing data to long-term research and species protection initiatives. Her interest in birds also sparked a passion for photography, which she uses as another way to observe, document, and share the beauty of avian life. She additionally supports avian research as a bird banding station data volunteer, assisting with the collection and management of data critical to understanding bird populations and migration patterns. Through these roles and interests, she demonstrates a deep commitment to wildlife conservation, citizen science, and environmental education.
Dave Sutherland is an award-winning interpretive naturalist, recently retired from the City of Boulder’s Open Space program. He has a Bachelor’s in biology from Pomona College, and a Master’s in nature interpretation from the University of Idaho. Besides nearly 30 years of work in the Boulder area, Dave has led outdoor education programs in California, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. Dave is a self-professed natural science geek who uses games and activities to inspire others with his love of nature. He has been training for his job since the age of 4, when he began collecting rocks and butterflies and drawing his own bird books with crayons.