Open houses at UC Davis’ California Raptor Center are a lot bigger than you might imagine. In fact, they start in the great wide open where people are invited to go for a Hawk Walk.

The next open house and Hawk Walk are scheduled for Nov. 15. Both are free and open to the public.

The raptor center announced that Jo Cowen, volunteer education program coordinator, will lead the Hawk Walk along a Putah Creek levee near the raptor center.

The walk is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., with the open house to follow from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Special presentations are planned at 10 a.m. and noon to demonstrate fascinating features of raptor biology and ecology.

If you plan on joining the Hawk Walk, meet at the raptor center gate, and bring binoculars.

The raptor center, a program of the School of Veterinary Medicine, provides care for injured raptors (eagles, hawks, vultures and owls), rehabilitating them and, whenever possible, releasing them back to the wild. Birds that cannot be released are trained to take part in the center’s education program.

During the open house, organizers said, visitors will have the opportunity to see many non-releasable raptors that are housed in display cages. Some birds—including Mikey, the red-shouldered hawk featured in Huell Howser’s Road Trip program on public television—will be “on the glove” (perched on trainers’ hands) for everyone to see. Also, the raptor center’s museum will be open.

Directions: Take the UC Davis exit from Interstate 80 and turn south onto Old Davis Road. Cross the railroad tracks and continue until just before you get to the Putah Creek bridge. Do not cross the bridge; instead, turn left onto the paved levee road. Follow it for two-tenths of a mile (about a block), and keep on the pave-ment as the road veers left, taking you down off the levee.
Then make a quick right turn into the free parking area.

More information (including a map).