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Loud screeching could be heard at the Rotary Club of Morristown’s meeting Wednesday.

The culprit?

A small owl measuring 7 inches that’s roar could be hear from miles away.

The Owl Ridge Raptor Center presented four birds that belong to their education program to the group of Rotarians.

Lisa Thompson, owner of the center, explained her history rehabilitating birds and the how the center came to be.

“I got started with this work a few years ago with another raptor center and after owners got into their late 70s they asked me to take over and I said OK.”

“We went out on our own and my husband Chris has helped me build this center up from the ground up,” Thompson said. “Our center is placed at our home and we live in a much forested area. We’re lucky to have a lot of space, because you really couldn’t do this in a subdivision. We also run a raptor hospital at the center.”

The center, that is located in Washburn, works year round to help heal injured birds to hopefully release them back into the wild.

“The core of our work is to rehabilitate injured raptors and release them back into the wild. When one comes in we do everything. We do injections. We do oral medication, set broken bones take care of their eyes and ears. The only thing we don’t do is x-rays. We do all this in hopes to release that bird exactly where it came from.”

However, if they are unable to release a bird back into nature, they find other ways to house the birds.

“If a bird is not releasable and has a great personality and I believe would work well in with education or with programs I will find placement for it in state parks or I will try and find a placement at our center. We had Maryville College take a red tail hawk that wasn’t releasable and trained him with the glove and now he works with their educational programs.”

“If that doesn’t work we will keep them at the center and will raise them and then release them once they can care from themselves,” Thompson said. “A Great Horned Owl will stay at the center for six to seven months.”

The center is a nonprofit that works closely with local organizations to help keep birds alive and in the sky.

“Any type of rehabber you see, whether it be for possums or squirrels, they do not receive any funding,” Thompson said. “We are subjected to yearly inspections by TWRA; we also have to have federal permits because we work with birds of prey, and everything here is federally protected.”

“We work really closely with TWRA and with University of Tennessee Vet Hospital,” Thompson said. “Anything UT gets wildlife wise they send to us and we rehab it and we release it.”

The center anticipates an increase of birds at the facility with the arrival of spring.

“Baby season starts this month for us,” Thompson said. “Grey Horned Owls nest very early like Bald Eagles. Starting in late March we will be getting a lot of Grey Horned Owlets because they get in all kinds of trouble.”

“As soon as they can start hopping around they begin to do so and fall out of their nest and then they come to us. We try to do this thing called renesting, we get a laundry basket and place it on a tree next to the original nest and their parents find them and continue to feed and take care of them. This has worked amazing with Red tail hawks and barred owls.”

Thompson brought out a few birds that are used in their educational programs to show Rotarians. The first being a Barred Owl named Little Dude.

“I am going to show you his ears, because they are asymmetrical and that helps him pinpoint on sound; bard owls can see 15 times better than the average human. Their hearing is also outstanding, they can hear a mouse rustling around about half a mile away,” Thompson said.

“Barred owls are the most vocal owl, and are monogamous which means they mate for life. They live forest and woodlands and are nocturnal birds and hunt at night.”

The next owl Thompson brought out was a small Eastern Screech Owl named Nugget.

“They make trilling sound which is not the typical ‘Who’ owls are known for,” Thompson said. “You see that he is different than Little Dude because he has feathered tusks on the top of his head. He eats about 25 grams of meat a day, which is one nice fat mouse.”

“Nugget’s nest tree was cut down and he was the only survivor so I have had Nugget since he was a little owlet. He will spend his natural life with me because he imprinted on me. He is very spoiled and loves a head rub.”

Thompson brought out a Great Horned Owl named Battle Beak Thunder Claw, or Beak for short.

“Horned owls have the most varied diet out of all the owls that live here,” Thompson said. “They particularly love skunks and they don’t smell so the skunk spray does not affect them. What happens most of the time is they get hit by a car while eating a skunk that was previously killed in the road.”

“They are nicknamed the ‘tigers of the sky’ because they will take down a Bald Eagle in the sky. They are very fierce birds, they will even steal nests from Bald Eagles and hawks to make their own. The females are much bigger than the males, because they are the ones who are going out to hunt for their babies.”

“Great Horned Owls have four toes on each foot and 500 pound of pressure in their talons. Once they reach a year in their life they do not have a natural predator, they are known as the alpha birds in this area. ”

The last bird Thompson showed was a Red Tail Hawk named Apollo, who is newer to the education program.

“Red Tail Hawks only get their famous red tail starting their second year of life,” Thompson said. “Apollo was found in field injured, he was on the ground for so long that he was eating insects and these bird can’t live off of insects. They usually eat 80 grams of meat which is four fat mice.”

“Red Tail Hawks can dive 150 miles per hour and build big stick nests. They can see 10 times better than humans. They are the largest hawks you will see in this area and they hunt in the day time.”

The Owl Ridge Raptor Center is always looking for donations and support. For more information on how to support the center, visit its Facebook page.