Wildlife Research Institute

02/12/2026

💕 💌 Behold!! 🙌🏼 WRI’s new ✨custom✨ valentines to celebrate “Talon-tine’s Day” featuring the stars of Hawk Watch— our favorite feathered loves from , our local falconer friends, and WRI’s wildlife encountered during our field research! 🥰💌 Print them out or screenshot and add text to send them virtually! Whoooo will get yours? 🦉❤️😍

02/11/2026

Did you know that when Valentine’s Day falls on a Hawk Watch Saturday it becomes… 💕Talon-tine’s Day💕🥰😆 We dare you to name a better date idea to share with your valentine! ❤️😜 Or let Ruby the Red-tailed Hawk or one of our other gorgeous animal ambassadors be your valentine this year!🤗 Join us on Saturdays through the end of February at the beautiful Begent Ranch with our beloved birds of prey! We run rain or shine! And time’s almost up! 🦅

01/26/2026

01/26/2026

01/25/2026

01/25/2026

The event is held every Saturday in January and February at Begent Ranch.

01/02/2026

Have you heard?? “HAWK WATCH!!!” is back every Saturday in Jan + Feb!!! Ruby the red-tailed hawk from can hardly believe it either!! 😆🤩 Opening Day is Jan 3, 2026… will you be there?!

Hawk Watch starts at 10am (doors open at 9am) rain ☔️ or shine 🌞, and as always… it’s FREE!

Big thanks to our WRI volunteers and donors who help keep it FREE! and accessible to any and all who are interested in learning about raptors together, as well as Ramona Garden Club who awarded WRI with a $500 beautification grant to keep Hawk Watch evolving into something more and more special each year! WOW!! Let the fun begin… again!! 🦅🦉🍩☕️❤️

05/08/2025

WRI started the day off with some feel-good coordination to help this little nestling Red-Shouldered Hawk get the help it needed! ❤️ This little one was likely pushed out of its nest too early by a sibling or by some other form of accident… called in by Good Samaritan, Sam of Santee, to our WRI volunteer-run hotline. Sam noticed the bird on the ground while walking her dog before work. Unsure of injury, Sam made the call to WRI to see if/how we could help. A quick glance at a texted photo to our experts yielded that this bird was too young to have a good chance of survival outside of the suburban nest site. It was still after hours for local rehab help being 6:30am, so WRI guided Sam to use a towel and gloves to transport the bird to an off-the-ground perch to keep it safe from curious pets. We then coordinated for an experienced colleague permitted to handle raptors volunteer who responded within the hour on site to identify the nest and consider options. Our first and foremost desired option was to deliver the bird back to its nest in order to give it the best odds at staying wild. Pivot to plan B when the nest was identified in a super tall palm tree unsafe for climbing, and the volunteer handler took the bird to our friends at Project Wildlife. Rehabilitation care and release are the ultimate goal, and we have the gps coordinates of where it was found which will end up being where it’s released in order to disrupt the natural cycle and distribution as little as possible. Best part of the story besides giving this little hawk a fighting chance was that part of the commute was made by trolley with our volunteer handler— possibly the first of its kind as a mode of transportation for a hawk! Blow a kiss towards Project Wildlife for this one! Glad WRI could help!! If you find injured or stranded wildlife, please call Project Wildlife at (619) 299-7012. And as always, WRI is your local partner in connecting the dots as needed! 🫡❤️

02/07/2025

Don’t let the weather get you down… Hawk Watch runs rain or shine!!☔️🌦️☀️ We celebrate the much needed rain by inviting everyone out to the beautiful Begent Ranch in the Ramona Grasslands as usual every Saturday from 10 to Noon-(ish) through the end of February— no matter the weather! Post-rain conditions often bring the hungry wild raptors out to hunt and can really make things exciting! We also have the option to bring the animal ambassador “show and tell” portion of the program inside if need be. Zoom in to see the smiles we can still put on your faces even when it rains 😁 Don’t hesitate to join us if you can make it!

01/23/2025

Who-who-who-whooo is coming to WRI’s Hawk Watch?! 🦉🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏽‍♂️ We’ll be there every Saturday in January and February at 10am at the beautiful Begent Ranch in Ramona… rain or shine! You’ll see different groupings of raptor species each weekend from Burrowing Owl to Ferruginous Hawk and many species in between, so plan to attend more than one! 🦅 Made possible by WRI volunteers, the animal ambassadors and their handlers at , , and several of our most prestigious Master Falconers in San Diego County including Dr. Bob Gordon, Charles Gailband, and Christian Gonzalez with other special appearances including the fabulous 🐍 (surprise!)! Come celebrate the hard work of this amazing group and enjoy a beautiful morning together overlooking the Ramona Grasslands at Hawk Watch!!🌾🙌🏼

01/12/2025

Well done by the Freemans 🙌

01/11/2025

Join WRI for Hawk Watch 2025!🥳 We are back at the beautiful Begent Ranch overlooking the Ramona Grasslands every Saturday in Jan + Feb from 10am to noonish with our program celebrating local native raptor species— and as usual, it’s FREE! Hawk Watch is a hugely collaborative effort hosted by WRI Volunteers with the help of our partners along with Master Falconers Charles Gailband and Dr. Bob Gordon ❤️🦅🦉 Bring binoculars (if you have them), a folding chair or blanket, and come early to browse our pop-up gift shop and snag a free donut and coffee from local Ramona businesses, K D Donuts and Main Street Starbucks 🍩 ☕️ Join us after the program for optional roadside observations guided by WRI Biologists and Naturalists featuring the wildlife of the Ramona Grasslands and continued conversation about local conservation! 🌿
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Help us celebrate this hidden gem of San Diego County— hope to see you there! 😁