To help ring in my mother-in-law’s birthday, our family recently spent the day at Hueston Woods with all of my wife’s family. Besides swimming at the pool outside of the lodge, my favorite activity of the day was going to the Nature Center.

Dinner Time

Sunday afternoons at 2 PM throughout the summer, you can watch as the Nature Center’s resident cougar cub and bobcat are fed their dinner.

Cougar Cub

At first when we arrived at the cougar cub’s cage, he was very shy and hiding in the cave. Once the park employee appeared with the food he was very active and ready to eat.

Hungry Fella

The cub is around six months old. His enclosure was redesigned prior to his arrival and after the death of the old cougar who passed away last year at the age of 18.

Bobcat

In contrast to the playful cougar cub, the park’s bobcat is nearing the end of his life and the park employee said he wouldn’t be surprised if this was his last summer. He didn’t move much while we were there, though I did catch a peak of him eating his dinner once the large crowd had left.

Red-Tailed Hawk

In addition to the cats, the Nature Center also has a dozen or so large birds of prey including a red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, and even a bald eagle.

Turkey Vulture

Most of these birds are permanent residents as they have injuries that would not allow them to live outside of captivity. However the Nature Center does Raptor Rehabilitation and accepts on average 50 injured birds of prey a year with a nearly 50% success rate of release.

Bald Eagle

The Nature Center also has an inside building filled with reptiles of the area. It too is worth a quick visit. The Nature Center is open year round, 10 AM – 4:30 PM daily and is always free.