Park Happenings

Event Details

Come join us for our open house hours on Saturdays at the Barbara J. Mapp Aviary Education Center! During these scheduled open house hours, visitors can hike up to the Barbara J. Mapp Aviary Education Center between 10am-1pm on Saturdays for self-guided tours to view our captive birds of prey along the 550' boardwalk. 

The Barbara J. Mapp Aviary Education Center is 3/4-mile hike from the East Parking Area and 1 1/4-mile hike from the West Parking Area/Walter Criley Visitor Center. All our captive birds of prey are non-releasable, meaning they have sustained an injury that prevents them from surviving on their own in the wild and now serve as raptor ambassadors. Our aviary center is fully occupied with 1 Great Horned Owl, 1 Red Tailed Hawk, 1 Black Vulture, 1 Golden Eagle, and 2 mature bald eagles. Visitors can enjoy viewing our captive snakes and turtles inside the Education Center as well as spending some time in the Ann Tarbell Library scrolling through our digital library inventory to review research for specific areas of interest while visiting.

No registration required. All ages. Pets are not allowed on the boardwalk of the aviary center due to stress on our captive birds of prey but are allowed inside the Education Center. 

Please note: Open House Hours are self-guided. Birds of Prey Glove Programs are unscheduled during these open house hours and will be conducted periodically when visitation allows for our park ranger staff to conduct programs. Glove Programs are not conducted when temperatures exceed 90 degrees or are below 30 degrees to minimize stress on our raptor ambassadors.

Any visitors with special needs please contact Park Manager Steve Ward for sign language assistance for any of our interpretive programs at Steve.Ward@tn.gov.