The Eden Prairie Outdoor Center welcomed a new raptor, a red-tailed hawk named Ruby, in September.
Max Melby, the center’s supervisor, said a wildlife rehabilitation center in northern Minnesota reached out to outdoor centers across the state in August to rehome Ruby. Melby had worked with her at a previous job about 10 years ago.
“When I knew she was one of the birds available, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we got to do everything we can to acquire Ruby,’” Melby said. “She’s an amazing bird.”
The Outdoor Center had an open mews, an enclosure to house raptors, after its first raptor, a barred owl named Whisper, died in October 2023, Melby said. He was not actively looking for a raptor, but when he heard Ruby needed a new home, he wanted to fill the mews again.
Melby said that as Ruby adjusts to her new environment, the center will begin using her for educational programming, including school visits and other public groups. Her first school visit will be at the end of November.
“She’s lived in one place for 15 years, so the transition to a new place is definitely a big deal. And she’s moving from living up on a ridge in a very remote area to living next to a lake in a suburban area,” Melby said. “So the last couple of months have mostly just been about making sure she’s transitioning well.”
Ruby seems to be comfortable in her new environment and is very healthy, Melby said. Outdoor Center staff keep a consistent schedule for Ruby and monitor her behaviors and reactions to gauge how well she is adjusting to her new environment.
“It’s a combination of just consistently providing the things that she needs and limiting stressors, and then carefully exposing her to things that I think might be a stressor, only to find out she’s not bothered, actually, by those stressors at all,” Melby said.
Melby said the public can see Ruby whenever raptor staff are at the Outdoor Center, although there is no set schedule for when staff will be on-site.
Ruby has lived in captivity for most of her life, first arriving at the University of Minnesota Raptor Center in 2009, Melby said.
She had an injured wing and eye and was severely underweight when Ruby first arrived at the Raptor Center, Melby said. Because a raptor’s eyesight and flight abilities are so important to finding food, it is unlikely that Ruby would have survived in the wild.
Ruby is 16 years old, and has spent the majority of her life in human care, Melby said.
“The majority of her life, almost all of it, with the exception of that first year, she has been working with people, so she’s super well suited to this,” Melby said.
