Ell Kinsey paused in front of a large, fenced in enclosure to glance at the two eagles inside.
“Eat your fish, eagles,” she said.
She carried on, ready to check in with the rest of the flock: an internet-famous screech owl, an inquisitive turkey vulture, and an attention-loving peregrine falcon. On the edge of Fontenelle Forest in Bellevue, Kinsey is among a small team that cares for more than 20 winged carnivores.
Raptor Woodland Refuge is 30 feet above the forest floor. Currently, there are 24 birds housed at the refuge. They require full-time care from staff and volunteers. That includes weighing their food, training and enrichment and cleaning and maintaining enclosures.
“I think one of our big focuses, in addition to the education, is also making sure that we’re giving the birds that we do have a very high quality of life,” Kinsey said, “because just because they’re broken doesn’t mean we’re going to toss them back in the wild or discard them to the side.”
A few years before the refuge opened, the Fontenelle team merged with Nebraska’s only raptor rehabilitation program, Raptor Recovery. That initiative was founded by a woman named Betsy Finch in the 1970s. Her rehabilitation program remains the largest in the state.
In July, the raptor rescue at Fontenelle will mark its 10-year anniversary. The refuge will celebrate with a public event July 11 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The team invites visitors to come meet the birds.
Every bird housed in the Raptor Woodland Refuge comes with a story, said Kathy Fischer, Raptor Program Manager at Fontenelle Forest.
“Wing injuries, head trauma, lead poisoning, which is huge. Just a little bit of lead can make them very, very, very sick,” Fischer said. “They can never go back out, so all of our birds forever will be non-releasable.”
Some of the birds have joined a roster for educational outreach. They travel to schools and nursing homes with the goal of educating current and future generations about raptor education and conservation.
“I think when the public comes here, they get a general respect for the birds,” Fischer said, “and sometimes they’ve even built a bond where the same people come every day to see a bird out in the refuge.”
Sometimes, those birds have fans. Spike, a small eastern screech owl, became something of an internet sensation in early 2025. He was rescued from an enclosed train car and was brought to the rehab center with a brain injury.
He was put in an enclosure with another owl named George who, despite his reputation as a terrible roommate, cared for Spike by bringing him food and grooming him.
“I think their personalities are my favorite part of the job,” Kinsey said.
Asked if they have a favorite bird, Fischer and Kinsey gave the same answer: Sundance the turkey vulture. The winged carnivore is inquisitive. He loves to follow his caretakers up and down the hallway of the refuge and listen to them talk. His interactions with his caretakers are increasingly meaningful as the vulture continues to age.
At 23 years old, he’s far exceeded his life expectancy.
“It is sad because in the next couple of years, we are going to lose originals and favorites,” Kinsey said, “and I think that that change is really important to recognize, they are leaving behind a legacy.”
Like Sundance, Fischer said she won’t be around forever and she is looking forward to celebrating 10 years of raptor rescue at Fontenelle. For the next 10 years, she hopes to see a new generation take the reins.
“I want to see the young people come in and take that responsibility on and take care of it and bring in new ideas,” Fischer said. “That’s really really important to get them excited about it.”