Wildlife

Baby Barn Owl

You’re invited to a virtual wildlife baby shower

Support the Wildlife Department through spring baby season

As CNC undergoes facility improvements and upgrades this winter, the Wildlife Department’s annual fundraiser and supply drive will be held virtually throughout February 2026.

Spring is the busiest—and most important—time of year for wildlife babies. While young animals may be adorable in their first weeks of life, caring for them requires significant time, expertise, and resources, as CNC’s wildlife rehabilitators know all too well.

Join us in celebrating a wildlife baby shower and learn more about CNC’s work with injured and orphaned raptors, reptiles, and amphibians. Throughout February, the Wildlife Clinic will share educational posts, photos, and videos on the Wildlife Rehabilitation Facebook page (@CNCWildlifeRehab), offering a behind-the-scenes look at wildlife rehabilitation and the vital role community support plays. Please feel free to email the Wildlife Clinic, if there are any specific situations or questions you would like us to address!

The Wildlife Department relies heavily on donations to continue its work. Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitators are not permitted to charge for their services or receive tax funding. Without community support, CNC would not be able to care for the many baby animals that arrive each spring.

As spring brings new growth, warmer temperatures, and increased wildlife activity, CNC receives a surge of calls and emails about baby animals—over 300 inquiries per month during peak season. Although CNC is licensed to care specifically for raptors, reptiles, and amphibians, staff provide guidance for wildlife of all species. In 2025 alone, CNC treated more than 800 animals, over 200 of which were under one year old. Juvenile animals typically cost nearly three times more to rehabilitate than adults, largely due to increased nutritional needs.

So why is spring such a critical time for wildlife babies?

Wildlife Director Kathryn Dudeck explains:

“With warmer weather approaching, plants begin to sprout and bud, providing abundant food for smaller animals like rabbits, chipmunks, and songbirds. This signals ideal conditions for raising young. As prey species give birth, predators—such as raptors—time their breeding seasons accordingly.”

For example, Eastern cottontail rabbits breed from February through September, while Great Horned Owls—one of their primary predators—often lay eggs as early as January to ensure enough prey is available to feed their chicks.

Caring for young wildlife can be complex and varies by species. Many reptiles native to north Georgia are fully independent from the moment they hatch and do not require parental care. Well-meaning people sometimes bring hatchling turtles to CNC, assuming they are orphaned—but in most cases, they are perfectly fine and should be left alone.

Raptors, however, present different challenges. Young birds of prey often arrive at CNC due to nest loss from storms or human disturbance, or simply because they are inexperienced flyers.

“Yes, even raptors go through an awkward phase,” Dudeck said.

“At around six to eight weeks old, they begin leaving the nest to perch nearby and strengthen their flight muscles. Sometimes they miss a landing and end up on the ground, uninjured but vulnerable.”

Young raptors often require intensive care, including frequent feedings and specially prepared diets. To prevent imprinting on humans, CNC staff wear camouflage ghillie suits, use recorded food-begging calls, and, in the case of vultures, place feathers from resident birds nearby to provide familiar scents.

Whenever possible, CNC works to reunite uninjured young animals with their parents. If reunification isn’t an option, non-releasable resident birds may serve as temporary foster parents.

  1. If you encounter a baby animal this spring, please remember:
    Observe from a distance—parents may be nearby foraging.
  2. If parents are not observed, contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Do not attempt to feed or handle the animal, as improper care can be harmful.
  3. Contact Animal Help Now (ahnow.org) to find a local rehabilitator and receive guidance.

How can you help?

Support CNC’s Wildlife Baby Shower by donating items from our wish list. The Amazon Wish list and other wish list items are listed below. Donations can be dropped off at the Discovery Center anytime between February 1 and February 28.

Make a donation to the Wildlife Department.

Learn more about the CNC Wildlife Department and the rehabilitation support they provide to raptors, reptiles, and amphibians.

Amazon Wish List

Other Wish List items:

Reptibark substrate
Heavy-duty 25′ hoses
Pine/softwood shavings
24” and 36” cable/zip ties
Amazon gift cards
PetSmart and Petco gift cards
Kroger and Publix gift cards
Home Depot gift cards

Gift certificates to our food vendors:

RodentPro: Mazuri: American Rodent Supply www.americanrodent.com
Armstrong’s Cricket Farm: 

Thank you for helping CNC’s Wildlife Department give wildlife babies the best possible start.

Black Vulture

There’s No Place Like Home: Vulture Aviary Complete

Special Thanks to The Imlay Foundation

ROSWELL, GA – The Chattahoochee Nature Center is proud to announce the long-awaited completion of the vulture aviary. The previous aviary was over 20 years old, and for the safety of the birds, including protection from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), they have been off exhibit since August 2022.

Through the generosity of The Imlay Foundation, Barbara & Ed Taylor in honor of Claire Mills, the Choate Bridges Foundation, and many other special donations, the money was secured to rebuild the enclosure. The Turkey Vulture, who arrived in 1989 with wing damage, and the Black Vulture, who arrived in 2006 after being raised illegally as a pet, have been returned now that the finishing touches are complete.

On an annual basis, CNC receives over 700 rehabilitation cases and 3,500 inquiries about wildlife. The on-site staff and department volunteers work tirelessly to help the injured animals and return them to the wild, if possible. They receive no federal or state funds for their work and cannot charge a fee for their services as wildlife rehabilitators. However, donations are gladly accepted.

“Thanks to several generous donors and The Imlay Foundation, we received funding for the vulture aviary to be rebuilt,” says Wildlife Director Kathryn Dudeck. “This was especially timely because our resident non-releasable vultures are currently housed in caging, which we need for rehabilitation. With the busy season upon us, we need to get them back on exhibit soon.” She notes that Wildlife still requires funds to rebuild the Red-shouldered Hawk aviary and that “While they are off exhibit, they can be housed in a smaller enclosure than the vultures so we will not temporarily lose the federally required 100’ flight cage that allows us to rehabilitate eagles, vultures, and ospreys.”

For more information on the Wildlife Department, visit https://www.chattnaturecenter.org/visit/experience/wildlife/

 

Vulture Aviary Before
P1088201
Red-Tailed Hawk

Community Partner Support from Cobb EMC

Partnership supports resident Red-tailed Hawks and Environmental Education Programming

When it comes to the Chattahoochee Nature Center’s (CNC) Wildlife Department, the saying “it takes a village” could not be truer. Each year, CNC rehabilitates over 375 native Georgia birds of prey. These raptors come to the Center most often because of human contact – hit by a car, shot, or sickened by eating a rat that has been poisoned. CNC does not receive state or federal funding and annual costs are close to $30,000 to feed these birds. As a result, CNC seeks private funding and looks to the community for support to provide this service.

Today, Chattahoochee Nature Center is celebrating one of our outstanding community partners, Cobb EMC. For the past 3 years, Cobb EMC has sponsored the care of our resident Red-Tailed Hawks as well as provided local students with the opportunity to experience hands-on, outdoor, environmental education programs at CNC. 

Mark Justice, Director, Education & Community Relations with Cobb EMC shared, “Cobb EMC’s commitment to our members includes a focus on the environment. We are honored to partner with CNC because of their unwavering dedication to wildlife and conservation education.”

CNC’s Wildlife Department treats and rehabilitates more than 750 animals each year, returning approximately 63% of raptors and 95% of reptiles of those surviving the first 24 hours back to the wild.  Since its inception in 2016, CNC’s wildlife clinic has treated more than 2000 raptors providing world-class treatment. CNC receives no state or federal funding for wildlife rehabilitation. We could not provide this service without the community partners such as Cobb EMC that care about our environment and the habitat of our animals.

“Humans are directly and indirectly responsible for nearly all the raptors we treat and care for. We feel it is our moral and ethical obligation to care for them” said Kathryn Dudeck, Wildlife Director at CNC.  Raptors most often sustain injuries in urban and suburban areas, most commonly in collisions with automobiles. We work to educate the community not to throw things out of cars, even biodegradable items such as apples. These items attract rodents to roadsides where raptors hunt and can be hit.

Cobb EMC’s funding has provided food, housing, and vet costs for our injured, non-releasable Red-Tailed Hawk for the past three years. We could not do this work without their support. 

We are thankful for Cobb EMC’s interest and commitment to CNC, the community, and Georgia’s environment through their sustainability projects seen at https://cobbemc.com/sustainability.

Tedx

Raptor Rap at TEDx Cartersville

November 16, 2022 –TEDx

Thanks to the Community Foundation of North Georgia

Tedx

Naturalists Larry Stevens and Jenna Ellett from Chattahoochee Nature Center talk about the importance of raptors in our communities and preserving their habitats. Larry Stevens served as a U.S. Army counterintelligence agent in West Berlin before becoming a Public Relations Manager at BellSouth in Atlanta. Today, he is a naturalist for the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Jenna Ellett is a Senior Analyst at Cloudmed, but she’s also a Naturalist at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.

Click to view video

turtle

Chattanooga wildlife rehabilitator warns ‘something very, very bad is happening’ to area’s box turtles

September 29, 2022- Chattanooga Times Free Press
By Emily Crisman

turtle
Photo by Kathryn Dudeck

Most years, Chattanooga wildlife rehabilitator Juniper Russo treats up to two box turtles suffering from upper respiratory infections. Since March of this year, she’s treated 22 turtles from the Chattanooga area with eye and ear infections at her wildlife rescue facility, For Fox Sake. She said when turtles are deficient in vitamin A, they develop inflammation in their eyes and especially in their ears, which can cause abscesses. 

Click to view entire article

spiderweb

Fake spiderwebs are a real fright for wildlife

September 28, 2022- Forest Preserve District Will County 

Photo via Shutterstock

Talk about the tangled webs we weave. Those fake spiderwebs that give your house a creepy Halloween feel are even scarier than you might think for wildlife, because they can be a literal death trap. 

Much like real spiderwebs trap insects, those fake ones do too. And it’s not just teeny, tiny insects that can get caught in the sticky strings. Birds can get entangled in the fake webs, and so can any small animals that are not strong enough to break free, Treehugger reports.

Click to view entire article

how rain affects wildlife

How Rain Affects Wildlife

Discover How Rain Impacts Animal Behaviors

how rain affects wildlife
By Kathryn Dudeck

We have been experiencing a lot of summer storms lately. We know how rain affects us but have you ever wondered how rain affects wildlife? We talked to Wildlife Director, Kathryn Dudeck to find out some ways that the rain affects wildlife.

Nocturnal animals such as raccoons, opossums, and coyotes are seen more commonly during the day if it has been consistently raining the night before. Because prey (rabbits, rats, mice, etc.) does not often come out in the rain, the predators don’t come out to hunt. Once the rains clear, no matter what time of day or night, the animals will all come to forage and feed. This is similar to humans making a late-night run to the grocery store.


While some animals such as frogs and toads relish the rains (and in some cases are triggered by rainfall to mate), others such as songbirds and raptors usually lie low. The feathers of these birds weigh more than their skeleton so if they get drenched, they are unable to fly. Even some of our long-time resident raptors at CNC will not eat when it rains, despite having covered areas in their enclosures.

For large migratory species like Sandhill Cranes who navigate hundreds of miles each day, storms and their accompanying winds can blow them off course. Therefore, these birds find suitable wetlands, a pond, or a lake and wait it out until the weather improves. An additional plus to this tactic is that they are often able to ride the thermals behind the storm so they won’t have to extend as much energy as they would in calm air. You can find out more about Sandhill Cranes and their migration habits here.

The steady rains we can experience at times may be a bit depressing for some of us, but smaller migratory waterbirds like rails and wood ducks love it! The wetlands are recharged and full, allowing for numerous stop-overs for resting, foraging, and feeding.

600 x 400 kingsnake

The Urban Kings Project Continues


Image Courtesy of Samantha Kennett

In 2019, a citizen science project was launched studying eastern kingsnakes in Metro Atlanta called The Urban Kings Project. Since then, hundreds of community members have participated by reporting sightings of their neighborhood kingsnakes. This year be the fourth and final year of data collection for the project. Here is everything you need to know about Urban Kings and how you can get involved!

What is The Urban Kings Project?
The Urban Kings Project is a citizen science research project based in Metro Atlanta trying to learn more about how eastern kingsnakes are impacted by increasing urbanization. Kingsnakes are commonly found in urban and suburban areas and seemed to have adapted to city life. This project aims to understand how these snakes are surviving in urban spaces and how urbanization overall can impact wildlife. Urban Kings is a collaborative project based out of Clemson University working in partnership with the Chattahoochee Nature Center, Kennesaw State University, and Georgia DNR.

Where is The Urban Kings Project located?
For this final year of the project, Urban Kings is focused on reports from Cobb, Fulton, South Cherokee, and Paulding counties.

What do I do if I see a kingsnake?
If you see a kingsnake in the counties above, please call Urban Kings while you see the snake if possible. The Urban Kings team will try to come out and respond to collect additional information on each snake. You can reach us by calling (404)-556-1863 or (678)-315-2020.

When you see a kingsnake, please take a photo and send it to Urban Kings with the date and exact location of the sighting. This information is not shared and is used in a private kingsnake population database. Please send your photo to bdhudso@g.clemson.edu and samantha.kennett@gmail.com.

What does it mean to “collect data” on the snakes?
The data Urban Kings collects on each snake is a general health assessment, length and weight, and a genetic sample in the form of a small scale clip. For humans, this is the equivalent of clipping a fingernail. Each snake is swabbed and tested for Snake Fungal Disease, which is a disease that is impacting snakes globally. Snake Fungal Disease is not contagious to people or other animals but can be passed from snake to snake. When possible, the Urban Kings team will also collect fecal samples from the snake, which can tell us a lot about what the snake has been eating! After responding to a snake call, data collection is done in a controlled and clean setting (like CNC’s Wildlife Clinic) rather than in the field to minimize stress for the snake. This means that the snake is typically taken for a day or two and then returned to the exact location they were found.

Are snakes harmed, killed, removed, or relocated?
Never! No snakes are harmed, killed, removed, or relocated in any aspect of the project.

What if I find a deceased kingsnake (hit by a car, cat/dog caught, human interaction, etc.)?
Please call Urban Kings! Even deceased there is still a lot to learn from these snakes. To name a few, we can see if they were healthy, what they were eating, if it was male or female, and test it for diseases. Deceased specimens are taken to the Georgia Museum of Natural History in Athens, Ga where people can learn from them for years to come.

What do I do if I find an injured kingsnake?
If you find an injured kingsnake, safely place the snake in a container and take the snake to the CNC Wildlife Clinic. In addition to calling Urban Kings, call the clinic to let them know you are coming. The number for the CNC Wildlife Clinic is (770) 992-2055 x239.

If I’m visiting the Chattahoochee Nature Center, what do I do if I see a kingsnake on the grounds?
The Urban Kings team has been fortunate over the last few years and has collected data on numerous kingsnakes on CNC’s property. If you see a kingsnake on the grounds at CNC, take a photo of the snake, make note of its exact location (dropping a point on a map is helpful), and send this information with the date you saw it over to Urban Kings.

How can I help?
1. Report kingsnakes! Please call when you see kingsnakes to report and email photo sightings to the project.
2. Spread the word! Please share information about the project with your community. If you have a neighborhood Facebook page or something similar, sharing the project flyer there is a great help.

Why is this project important? How will this information be used?
Rapid development increases the overlap between humans and wildlife, often leading to unnecessary conflict. This pattern is increasingly evident in cities across the world, especially those such as Atlanta which have an enormous metropolitan buffer. With your help, we plan to combine information about Kingsnake health and movement to begin building a type of risk map for informing current and future development plans. Our hope is to provide evidence for the requirements of small species of wildlife living in urban areas which can be merged into future development goals. Kingsnakes are our target species, but this information can be applied to many other small species of wildlife living in cities across the southeastern US. Additionally, we hope to strengthen community awareness surrounding the needs of common backyard wildlife by educating people all across the metro Atlanta region, and by encouraging community members to engage in research-based solutions to development-driven issues.

For questions or additional information, please feel free to reach out to Bryan Hudson or Samantha Kennett, or check out the project’s facebook page: facebook.com/UrbanKingsProject.

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