Barbara J. Mapp Aviary Education Center – Closed

Due to the extreme cold temperatures we are experiencing this week, the Barbara J. Mapp Aviary Education Center will be closed on Wednesday (Jan. 17) and Saturday (Jan. 20).

As part of our standard of care for our captive wildlife, our raptor ambassadors are brought inside the education center building when temperatures stay at/below 18 degrees. While they can survive in the wild in even colder temperatures, given the nature of their injuries, age, variety of species of birds of prey under our care, our park staff brings them inside to care for them during these winter weather advisories. This includes daily exercise, feeding and cleaning which requires a large amount of staff time to ensure our wildlife ambassadors are well cared for during these extreme cold temperatures. Thanks to past funding, we have a special designed crate system inside the garage area to keep them at a comfortable 40 degrees as part of our standard of care.

This year, thanks to funding from the Friends of Radnor Lake and Barbara J. Mapp Foundation we added a special enclosure for our resident Black Vulture. This was purchased w/donations on Saturday, then put together by our park staff just in time ahead of the current winter weather front. Picture below of our Black Vulture enjoying his new inside “pad”.