Cascades Raptor Center

Visiting this place might have been the highlight of my recent trip to Eugene. This place is a must see if you are in town. The volunteer who helped us couldn’t have been friendlier and gave us some great tips on local restaurants and other towns to visit. I’ve been to a falconry center before who had a few raptors and owls but this place has BALD EAGLES. Yeah. 2 OF THEM. I have never seen one in real life before and it was really something to see. I think it was only like 8 $/​person too which was great.

Lucky to have the Raptor Center here in town! Supporting a great cause and mission. Perfect place for family activities, field trips with kids, or fabulous spot to bring visitors from out of town. Inexpensive admission.
Beautiful location, friendly/​knowledgeable/​professional volunteers and staff. Ongoing fundraising benefits that bring local venues, artist showcases, and raptor education to even more venues around town (Check out Whirled Pies and Cornucopia for more information on fundraisers).

Awesome! Damn near every bird of prey imaginable, just outside of town. Yep… eagles, hawks, owls, vultures, and everything in between.
And on a funny personal note: the office used to be my friend’s house, where we played video games into the wee hours back in the very early 90’s. What a great repurposing of the place, though… :)

I love this place! The birds of prey that they have here are stunning and so much fun to observe. While you are there you can watch birds get fed and watch an interactive display with a trainer. Very fun place to visit!

A wonderful place to see birds up close and personal without risking injury to yourself or the birds.
After walking up a steep drive (there is limited parking near the center) you pay 8 $ for admission then you are free to roam the area and explore the enclosures.
Each bird has information about how they ended up at the center and what injuries they have.
What is great about the center is that they don’t breed and they are there to help rehabilitate birds to release back into nature if possible.
The enclosures were clean and spacious. I walked by one bird who was enjoying a small mouse snack. oh my!
This center is very family friendly. When I was there a small group of school children had a private presentation with a staff member and a few of the winged residents.
What is ideal about the location is that you can stay as long as you want and explore at your own pace. I walked by the first group of birds quickly, then I went back and read up on the background of the birds and spent more time closely observing them. Beautiful and majestic creatures.
Check out their website for special events to raise money for the center.
There is a small gift shop to check out when you are done.
The staff and volunteers were friendly, helpful, and very knowledgeable.

Husband and I visited and thoroughly enjoyed the up close view and interactions with these raptors. Lots of good info, these folks do great work. Admission is $ 8 for adults and was worth every penny. We will probably donate more at their website. Demo’s were held at 11am and 12 noon. Feeding of the bald eagle and exercise of an owl outside of the aviary was a thrill. We wandered around for at 1 ½ hours. Pretty locale.

It’s a real treat being able to see these raptor birds up close, especially the owls, bald eagles and vultures. Located in the woods, you hike up and down a few hills along a path that is lined with enclosures that hold the birds. Thanks for all the work you do to help these birds.

You get to see bald eagles, vultures, hawks, owls, and falcons. It’s neat and leisurely. Lots of yellow jackets are attracted to the rabbit/​mouse meat they feed the raptors. Hard to see the turn off from the main road.

This place was a great stop. I love reading the stories about the individual animals and how they ended up at the center. There are A LOT of bees so if you are bothered by them or have allergies you may want to skip it. Great time though.

I had some time to kill on a recent road trip through Oregon and searched for something different to do in the Eugene area. My online search turned up Cascades Raptor Center. That met my definition of different, and away I went. Once off of the fwy you will drive through several miles of rural residential neighborhoods. I began to think this was going to turn out to a be kind of a hokey place. Maybe a few cages in someones backyard. I was pleasantly surprised to find a very professional facility with knowledable, caring staff. They do great work here, taking care of these beautiful creatures that cannot survive in the wild. What an awsome couple of hours!

This is a tiny yet worth it little stop for any hawk, eagle, falcon, and bird lover. Mostly injured birds come here to get help and continue life after injuries. Nice place to see the animals up close and personal. And a good pit stop on our road trip.

The ‘Handler Talks’ are great too, and provide some amazing information about the birds… how some raptors hunt at night, and that Peregrine Falcons dive at up to 200 mph to catch their prey. Information like that adds another dimension to visiting these birds. A great, community supported place…

It’s great for kids and adults. Fascinating stories, a nice walk through the eugene woods, and a fun gift shop.
If you or your kids love animals, this is a safe bet. If you love birds of prey, it’s a dream come true to be so close to them. They have great education and demonstrations as well. Even those scared of birds will like it.

Must see attraction, especially for families. The «orphan» birds are beautiful. The custodian has done a wonderful job of protecting these magnificent creatures.

Great experience and fun to take the kids. Learn about Owls, Hawks, and Eagles :) must go if you are around Eugene. This is community supportive so please pay the fees and support :)

It was such a great expericance. I love that its all outside. Even tho it was pouring rain we still enjoyed ourselves greatly! There was umbrellas that we could use which was also very awesome! Very nice and and knowledgeable people. The birds looked happy and comfortable. It was beautiful! I would definitely recommend a trip to the Raptor Center. Thanks for having us «)

The whole family enjoyed the visit, despite the fact that it was a pretty quick trip through. Most of the birds are native to Oregon and all there because they were injured. Those on display cannot be released back into the wild, hence the existence of the «exhibit».
I particularly liked the narrative about each bird and why they were there and not been released back into the wild. Poor birds :(
It’s $ 8 per adult. Not too expensive, but not too cheap when you’ve got 5 adults in your party, either.

This is really a wonderful center. The birds they have are beautiful and the «heart» of the place is in the right place as the goal is to release them back into the wild. I was there I guess a little less than two hours and they had, during that time, three birds out of their cages for people to get a closer look. Two randomly by center staff and one for a school group that was coming to the center. You have to stay on the path but you can get very close to the animals based on the way the place is designed.
The only thing that’s holding me back from 5 stars is that it’s not a big collection and they had about four cages blanketed off for various reasons (e.g. nursing newborns) cutting down on the collection you could see. This isn’t anything they can really do anything about… you can’t go injure some birds so you have a bigger collection and I’m sure there reasons for blocking some cages were valid. It’s just an overall comment. Maybe they could offer an exclusive fee so people could see the part where they care for birds and limit it to two people a day or something.
This place is unique and definitely worth a visit if your travels bring you to Eugene.

The Raptor Center is a hidden gem in the South Hills of Eugene. Mere moments from town, this educational sanctuary is the perfect thing to do with family and friends of any age and is a great cause to support. And a person can support by heading up for a one-​time visit ($ 5 for kids under 12, $ 7 for teens or seniors, and $ 8 for adults), or by becoming a member. Once you’re a member, you have «free» visits for a year, accompanied by an extra pass or two so you can bring a buddy sometime. You also will be invited to the Center’s anniversary party, which always is well catered (usually by Capella) with King Estate wine (they made a special blend for the 20^th anniversary), a raffle, and bonus bird encounters.
The Center’s mission is straightforward: they are one part rehabilitation one part public education. There is a bird hospital on site. They are committed to bird releases and have multiple environments acting as staging areas; where they test birds to ensure they can survive in the wild. Approximately two or three times per day, depending on the season, there is an educational talk (with live birds included) at the pavilion on site. It’s nice to planyour visit around that event. But even if you don’t hit the time for the talk, you can easily while away an hour or so looking at the gorgeous birds in generous habitats.
The Raptor Center also has several portable educational opportunities… they’ll come to your school, your bird-​day party, or you can schedule your own personal raptor experience.
The raptors are definitely a cause worth supporting, and to have a local non-​profit doing such good work makes me proud of Eugene.

I lived in Eugene for many years before I’d even heard of the Cascade Raptor Center, and it was quite a while after that before I visited for the first time. Now, it’s a regular stop on the out-​of-​town guest tour, an organization that I intend to contribute to annually and, simply, one of the truly special places in my adoptive hometown. You really need to see it for yourself but I’ll say.. .
~try to visit at a time when a staff member of volunteer is giving a ‘raptor talk’ –unless you are already an expert you are guaranteed to learn all kinds of interesting things.
~the Raptor Center sits in a beautiful, peaceful locations. I can feel my blood pressure drop every time I am there.
~the birds that you can see are all, for different reasons, unable to reenter the wild.
~they take care of and rehabiltate many birds that you’ll never see, because after they heal they will be able to go back into the natural world.
~they are largely staffed by volunteers and every time I visit I wonder if I’ll ever make the time to contribute my own labor because I’m so inspired.
I could go on and on but, really, all I can say is if you live in Eugene and you’ve never visited the Raptor Center, I can’t recommend it strongly enough.