The Avian Reconditioning Center for Birds of Prey

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Apopka, FL
The Avian Reconditioning Center for Birds of Prey

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Raptor conservation, education, rehabilitation, and falconry. Open on Saturdays, weather permitting. ARC receives no federal or state funding.
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The Avian Reconditioning Center, or ARC, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit bird of prey rehabilitation and education facility in Apopka, FL sitting on 10 acres. Since 2001, ARC has realized its mission through dedication to raptor rehabilitation, education, research, and falconry, thereby increasing public awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of Florida’s magnificent raptors and the natural habitats in which they live. ARC helps raise nestlings with surrogate parents, rehabilitates injured raptors, releases raptors back to the wild, and provides a permanent home for those who would not survive on their own. We are open to the public on Saturdays, weather permitting. Our main public display area is our pavilion where our education birds are perched. Our volunteer handlers will gladly hold one of our education birds on the glove so you can view the bird up close! Flight demonstrations are held throughout the day, weather permitting. We also have an indoor classroom and library, and an indoor gift shop with restroom facilities.

10/30/2026

Happy almost Halloween from Ruby the red-tailed hawk! We will be open tomorrow from 10 AM to 4 PM, (weather permitting, birds begin going home at 3PM). Come on out and see us! Admission is $5 per person, and children ages 5 and under are free.

10/28/2026

Victor, our barn owl, is definitely a curious bird! Whenever he is out on the glove, he loves taking a stroll through the garden to check out everything going on around him. His head movements up, down, and side to side are his way of carefully mapping his surroundings, allowing him to judge depth and pinpoint every sound in the garden. Victor also gives a great demonstration of an owl's ability to turn its head 270 degrees, finishing off with a butterfly startling rouse at the end.

10/23/2026

Eastern screech owls like Barkley are masters of camouflage. The complex patterning on their feathers helps them blend seamlessly into tree bark. Behavior plays a big role in their ability to hide, too. Sometimes they will stand up very straight and tightly tuck in their feathers to reduce their profile. Like a great horned owl, they can also raise their ear tufts, or plumicorns, to break up their rounded silhouette and look just like a broken branch. To top it off, they will squint their eyes to cover up those bright irises.

That superpower of camouflage makes Eastern screech owls tricky to spot in the wild. Luckily, you do not have to search high and low to see one! You can visit us tomorrow and meet little Barkley alongside our other ambassador owls at Owl at the Moon. Come see us from 10 AM to 3 PM. General admission is $5 per person, and kids 5 and under are free. Tickets are available on our website or at the door tomorrow! We hope to see you there!

10/22/2026

Barred owls like Patch and Mrs. P are famous for their classic "who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?" hoot, but they actually have a huge variety of sounds. They can make calls that sound like laughter, howling monkeys, or barking dogs, and they even click, hiss, and shriek.

A 2010 study on their vocalizations found that adult Barred Owls have 13 distinct calls. The research also showed that you can fairly accurately determine a Barred Owl's s*x by the pitch of its voice, with females calling at a noticeably higher pitch than males.

Learn more about owls and meet our education ambassador owls at Owl at the Moon, this Saturday from 10AM to 3PM. Visit our website for more information!

10/20/2026

In this close-up of Wedge, you can see two features Great Horned Owls are famous for: their striking eyes and fluffy feather tufts.

Wedge’s big, bright yellow eyes allow him to hunt in very low light. Owl eyes are not round, they are elongated, tube-shaped structures with large retinas that absorb a tremendous amount of light. While Great Horned Owls have excellent hearing, they rely heavily on their eyesight to locate prey, unlike Barn Owls, which can hunt in total darkness.

The feather tufts on top of Wedge’s head are called plumicorns. Often referred to as "ear tufts," they actually have nothing to do with hearing. Instead, plumicorns are specialized display feathers controlled by tiny muscles under the skin. Owls like Wedge use them for camouflage by breaking up the round outline of their head, as well as for body language. Lowered plumicorns can signal a relaxed mood, while raised tufts can show a curious, alert, or defensive owl.

🦉Learn more about Owls at Owl at the Moon on October 24th!

10/16/2026

Come on out and see us! We will be open tomorrow from 10 AM to 4 PM (weather permitting, birds begin going home at 3PM).

If you can't come out and see us, we may be able to come to you! Depending on location and availability, our Roaming Raptors program can bring birds like Gem, our gorgeous Peregrine Falcon, right to your school, club, group, or festival. You can learn more about our programs on our website, www.arc4raptors.org!

10/14/2026

All owls have amazing hearing, but barn owls, like Victor, have absolutely incredible acoustic abilities. As members of the genus Tyto, barn owls possess several specialized adaptations that make them true masters of sound.

It starts with their distinct, heart-shaped face. A stiff ring of feathers known as the facial ruff acts like a satellite dish, funneling faint high-frequency noises straight into their ear canals.

Beneath those feathers is another adaptation: ear asymmetry. A barn owl’s left ear sits higher on the head and angles downward, while the right ear sits lower and angles upward. This allows them to instantly calculate whether a noise is coming from above or below.

While these physical features are remarkable, what happens inside the barn owl's brain is just as extraordinary. Research conducted at Caltech revealed that a barn owl's brain contains an abnormally high density of auditory spatial neurons. These specialized cells process timing and volume cues to form a 3D sound map of their surroundings in real time. This means a barn owl can still locate prey with absolutely no light or visual clues.

Join us October 24th for Owl at the Moon to learn more about incredible owls!

10/09/2026

There's one thing Ike has definitely perfected: 🦅 his intense eagle stare!

We'll be open tomorrow, but once again, we're keeping an eye on the weather. Come on out and see us from 10 AM to 4 PM (birds begin going home at 3 PM). Admission is $5 per person, and kids 5 and under get in free!

10/08/2026

Florida is home to five permanent resident owl species: the Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, Barn Owl, Burrowing Owl, and Eastern Screech Owl.

At ARC, you can meet four of these five species at our Owls at the Moon event on October 24th! Tickets and Experiences available now on our website www.arc4raptors.org

Our resident owl crew:

🦉Great Horned Owls: Nonamé (pictured), Gracie, and Wedge
🦉Barred Owls: Mrs. P, and Patch (pictured)
🦉Barn Owls: Henry, Ella, and Victor (pictured)
🦉Eastern Screech Owls: Oakley and Barkley (pictured)

Who is your favorite?

10/06/2026

Did you know there are around 250 owl species across the globe, living on every continent except Antarctica? They all fall into two distinct families: Strigidae (true owls) and Tytonidae (barn/bay owls).

Most species belong to the Strigidae family. These owls have a stockier build, with round facial discs and a wide variety of eye colors. Some, like Wedge, our great horned owl, have prominent feather tufts called plumicorns.

The Tytonidae family includes owls with a leaner frame, dark eyes, and heart-shaped or U-shaped faces. Barn owls like Ella rely on their incredible heart-shaped facial disc to focus sounds right into their ears.

Want to see these incredible features up close? Join us for Owl at the Moon on Saturday, October 24th! You can get an up-close look at our ambassador owls, or even hold Ella yourself during a private Owl Experience. General Admission and Experience tickets are available now on our website www.arc4raptors.org

Address

323 Lester Road
Apopka, FL
32712

Opening Hours

10am - 1pm

Telephone

+14074611056

Website

https://www.arc4raptors.org/

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