Everything Just Wingin' It

With a name like Robyn, some might say you’re destined to soar through life, working with all things winged and wonderful.

“Spelled slightly differently, but yes, my life is absolutely for the birds,” said Robyn Miller.

Miller, who was named director of the Auburn University Raptor Center (AURC) this past January, first came to the Plains a decade ago to study 19th century English literature. While earning her doctorate, she volunteered at the center.

“I watched my best friend return a barred owl back to the wild and I was immediately enraptured,” remembered Miller.

Equally as strong as her bird puns is Miller’s goal to strengthen AURC’s conservation, education and rehabilitation efforts. A licensed falconer and naturalist, she’s honored to return to the place that first sparked her avian passion.

“When I saw this job open up, I saw an incredible opportunity to give back to the facility that started it all,” she said.

Meanwhile, if AURC’s administrative coordinator Andrew Hopkins looks familiar, it’s probably because he is.

“You have no idea how many Christmas cards I've been on over the years,” joked Hopkins.

Hopkins began his journey with AURC in 2007 while an undergraduate student. By 2011, he had earned his bachelor's degree in zoology. He, along with a slew of AURC’s dedicated volunteers, works tirelessly during the summer months at Jordan-Hare Stadium training the center’s eagles for their iconic pre-game flights.

“We're just out there winging it every day, every single day,” laughed Hopkins.  “Seriously though, lots of repetition and positive reinforcement. They literally start drooling when they see that field.”

Together, Hopkins and Miller spearhead the center’s day-to-day operations in partnership with Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“We provide rehabilitation for about 300 injured or orphaned raptors each year and also travel extensively across the Southeast teaching about conservation,” Miller said. 

That mission has taken on a milestone this year as AURC celebrates 25 years of pre-game eagle flights in Jordan-Hare Stadium – a tradition many argue is the greatest in all of college football.

“There's nothing like the energy in Jordan-Hare on gameday, especially when those eagles take flight,” Miller said. 

This football season, Aurea, a golden eagle and War Eagle VIII, and Independence, a bald eagle, are keeping the 25-year tradition alive. The anniversary is being celebrated with a philanthropic campaign for center improvements in hopes of turning it into a more zoological-type facility.

“This is an invitation for the community and the Auburn Family to rally behind this tradition,” Miller said. “We're trying to shine a light on how those War Eagle flights really carry on their wings the entire Raptor Center.”

The center also continues to host its popular Football, Fans and Feathers events on Fridays at 4 p.m. CT before every home football game.

The bonus?  At the show’s conclusion, they bring all the birds back out for attendees to get plenty of new family photos. 

And who doesn't need a good Christmas card picture, right?

Check out our Everything Auburn Podcast Hub here!

Transcript

0:06

Hello Auburn Family. Welcome to Everything Auburn, the podcast. We speak to our member of the Auburn Family every single month. This time we have a special episode because we don't have one member of the Auburn Family, but two, we have Robyn Miller and Andrew Hopkins with the Raptor Center. Welcome to everything Auburn. Thank you, thank you. War Eagle! War Eagle indeed. War Eagle I've been wanting to have this podcast for a while because Raptor Center is objectively so cool. I can think of so many memories I've had watching the eagle fly around the stadium. But I have to start with the most pressing question I've been wanting to ask since we've had it. And so I found out you guys are going to be podcast. I want to ask one question. One question only. Robyn have you been destined to work with birds your entire life because of your name? Yes, it's just from birth. You will like birds. I often tell my parents that they know or should have known what they were getting themselves into when they named me, I just. What? I found out that your name was Robin. You were with representative. Like how perfect. You're named after bird. Wonderful. It's spelled slightly differently. So you have a level of separation that is named after a bird. But my life is absolutely for the birds. Wonderful, wonderful. And then, Andrew, you've been here with working for the Raptor Center for forever. I recognize you almost as much as I recognize the birds. I've been seeing you around here for years. I have some of their staff like to say, to the new volunteers that when the Raptor Center broke ground, they just found me out there at the Raptor. They're just out in the woods, and I just said, yeah, bring it on. Well, welcome. I know we're getting ready to gear up for a new football season, which, you know, is one of the more public things you guys do at the Raptor Center. But you're doing things all year round. What? Just walk me through. What's the preseason? I'm really curious. What's pre-season look like for for for the Raptor Center? I know what the preseason looks like for the football players. You got fall training summer camp. Are you doing that with the birds still to practice every how often? Tell me everything. I don't know anything. I have a film degree. Not intelligent on the subject. Well, we start training in the summer. Our Eagles train just like athletes. So five days a week they're out and Jordan Hare flying 1 to 3 times a day, building up that fitness, that confidence. When it's especially hot during the summer, we tend to start them back at our facility and the amphitheater until we see them regain that eagerness, get their game faces on, as it were. And then we transition back out to the football field. I've heard a rumor that Ari does not like the heat. I'm sure you want to talk about. Neither do I either. Yes. So I guess Ari and I are the same in that aspect. But yeah, Golden eagles aren't really found here in Alabama. Sure. Like, will migrate into Alabama in the winter, but very few of them. And so last time we'll take it a little bit slower with the Golden Eagles in their training. So I mean historically you'll see bald eagles flying early in the season. And then we can work in our area or whichever golden eagle we might have. That's part of the summer training. Yeah. Get back used to it. Yeah getting her a little bit more acclimated. But we'd certainly take into account their natural history. They're adapted for cooler climates. There are Boone and Eagles, so they have feathers going all the way to their feet to help keep them warm. And if they are in the heat, they're used to more arid weather. Not this Auburn, Alabama humidity. I didn't know it was humid in Alabama. Who would have guessed it would? I think would have guessed. Well, one question I really love to ask. And you know, you guys can rock, paper, scissors out. Who wrote first? I don't know, but I'd love to know people's auburn story. Right. And you guys have such interesting jobs, interesting careers and life that led you to where you are now. But I would love to know. I guess you know what I'm going to. I asked you the first question. The hard question, the name. So, Andrew, you're actually first. I've just decided. No rock, paper scissors. Yeah. But how did you get to Auburn? Tell me. Tell me what it is. I'm sure you didn't actually get found in the woods. Where the Raptor Center is now. So I have actually always wanted to work with animals. Originally I went to work with tigers. Big cats is what I've always wanted to work with. Bring it on. But when I was looking for a couch that had, zoology degree, I was an Alabama resident living up in Athens, Alabama. So I saw that Auburn had a zoology degree, came here. The way I actually got involved in the Raptor Center is I actually had to do an English paper. And so I chose the Raptor Center, to do a paper about write about what? You know, yeah. I just, you know, followed them around. They invited me to one of their eagle practices in the morning, and afterwards, I just had to ask them, you know, how do I how do I become a volunteer? So other volunteers, I was like, how do I start this? And, they couldn't get rid of me after ever since then. That's awesome. I love that, that's passion. You know. Do you still have that paper? Oh, gosh. I would like it. Maybe digital somewhere. I'm not sure. I. I'd love to take a look at it. Just out of curiosity, I don't know if I want the English person for reading my paper as part of your yearly performance review. That paper will be analyzed. I'll just slide it across the table to you. New grade every year as you revise. And then, Robyn, you're coming up on about a year working here with the Raptor Center, right. Or a little bit over. But under I, they're under January started in January. Oh, okay. Well, so this will be your first football season. It will be once. Director. Okay. Band. What a time. Yes. I am beyond excited to experience that. And there's nothing like the energy and Jordan here on game day, especially when those Eagles take flight. I mean you are correct. So how did you get to Auburn. Tell me your journey and your your your path here to Auburn. So speaking of English, I came to Auburn to study 19th century English literature for a PhD program. Its natural lead in to raptors. Oh, absolutely. There was a huge part of my soul that was already dedicated to Birds of Prey. When I was a kid, I read my side of the mountain. I had this book that had a, centerfold about falconry, and that was one of the earliest memories I had of looking back and recognizing a part of myself. Oh, wow. So my study, of revolves around 19th century avian ecologies, which is a fancy way of saying I was looking at how Victorians looked at birds. Okay. And while I was in the program, one of my peers and best friends invited me out to a Raptor release. And when she found out how much I loved birds and I was immediately and captured, just enraptured. Okay, okay, I see how it is. I see how it is over here with you guys. Try working with this every day. I see how it is. Yeah, it's a bunch of goofs over here. I see, I get it, Andrew is very patient with the bunch, I see. I don't like it. We're just out here winging it every day. Every single day. I took a geology course when I was here. It was because I was a student. And, I have, I've been older than most to use rock puns as often as I can. You just can't take them for granted. Boulder. They're my favorite. And so I started volunteering after that experience because I was mesmerized. I watched my best friend return a barred owl back to the wild, and there were two educational birds at that release as well. So just calmly sitting on their handler's gloves. And it was kind of silly, but I sent this long application to the then at the time, assistant director of rehabilitation, listing the species that I could recognize listing like my previous experience with the animal handling super nerd it out. And over the course of my PhD, I started to realize more and more how much working with birds combined every element of my heart and soul. Oh wow. So when it came time to apply for jobs, I called my dad up and I said, dad, I'm thinking about applying to this Raptor center I found in Tennessee. What do you have to say about that? And I was expecting, are you sure? Like this may not be the best career path or choice for you, but without hesitation, he said go for it. Oh, that's good. And the rest is history. I started working on another raptor facility as an avian care specialist, help them develop a new facility. And then when I saw this job open up, I saw an incredible opportunity to give back to the facility that started it all. Oh, that's so cool. I always find, one of the most interesting things. I have a very unique career where I get to go to all these different touch points. The university. Right? I get to see this little thing. I get a little bit, you know, enraptured in it. Right, for a couple weeks. And then I had to do something else. Right. But I get to see all of people's passions on campus and I think people being passionate about what they do is just the most engaging thing I can ever, I just ever see. And I really love to watch people who love what they do. We spend a lot of time, obviously, the very public element of the Raptor Center or the Eagle Flight, right. But that is seven Saturdays in the fall. There are 300. I'm not good at math and 40 some other days of the year the are still working with the birds doing things and you do other flights. I know you've done some things at baseball occasionally as well, but you have, educational tours you guys have at your facility and you're always there. Care of the birds. What's kind of the more outside of those seven Saturdays in the fall? What are the other 340, 50 days of the year kind of look like feel. So we have two departments. We have our educational outreach and we also have our rehabilitation hospital. So as a division of the College of Veterinary Medicine, we provide rehabilitation for about 300 patients each year. These are injured, orphaned or ill raptors that are brought to our center that we provide care for with the intention of returning to the wild. And our educational outreach program offers about the same number, ironically, 300 programs a year. They travel all across the South. If we can drive there, we will bring birds to you to share our passion, to teach about conservation and highlight our mission. That's so cool. So I do have to. I am curious, because I was thinking about this when we were walking over here and we were talking about it. Personal life. You know, you live with animals. I've, I've met other people who do this kind of work before falconry, who have like their own personal animals they care for as well. That's some I assume that's something you guys have really gotten into. This one. You're pointing to this one here? Yeah. Not me, not you. When you got enough, you clock in clock out. When I go home, I don't want to take care of animals. I just want to fire up the grill and start smoking up some meat or something. I love that, but you have some, birds of your own. I am not currently. Okay, but I am a falconer, so effectively, what I do is I trap a first year or juvenile passage bird from the wild. I train them to hunt with me, and at the end of our time together, I return them to the wild as an accomplished and healthy bird. And this is a. That is the single coolest sentence I think I've ever heard on the podcast. I don't want to disparage our former guest, but that might be the coolest thing I've ever heard and is certainly a passion of mine. One of my favorite authors, Stephen Brody, calls it a range, and I think that's a little bit accurate. Okay. Because it's something you think about all the time. You dream about being with the birds, you think about training plans. You think about how to elevate them to the level they need to be to thrive on their own and be and contribute to the local population. That is, that's just, I just I don't understand how people train dogs to hunt with them. I can't even imagine how you would even begin to train a bird to hunt with you. Like that's that's fine. That's cool, that's awesome. Okay, I just I'm just processing, processing, swallowing that information. That's okay. Some other things that I think would be really interesting to speak with you guys about is, I learned something, about a month or two ago, maybe longer, that we're coming up on the 25th year of Eagle flights at football games. And the craziest stat about that is it's only been going on for 25 years, because in my head, we've been doing that since the 40s. It's been going on forever. And I did not know that. It's only been since 2000 that has been going on, truly. And you've been here for most of it. I know he has been out. I think about it. You've been for at least about half of it. You've been through it. That is, any particular through your 12 years doing it? 12, 12 years. Right. 13 I think this is my 13th. This will be your 13 season. Any particular memories that kind of thought that that come to mind? Think of 13 years of 25 years. Eagle flights, 13 years you've been doing it? There's definitely some memories. Some of them are better than others. Oh, I'm sure some of them were a little bit more stressful. But definitely one of the one of the good ones is August 1st flight. Oh, yeah. So, I mean, that was really special for me to be able to take her from, you know, a wild golden eagle to now flying in front of almost 90,000 people in the stadium. How simple. Simplify it for my for my smooth brain, if you will. How do you go from a wild bird? It's always a wild animal. It's never not fully wild, I would assume, but to trained well enough to do that with 90,000 people there screaming, there's fireworks not get the same moment, but there's like there's a chaos around to just be able to do that effectively with such high efficacy as you guys do. It doesn't understand, it doesn't compute in my brain. Yeah. So lots of training, lots of repetition, positive reinforcement. You know, one of the jokes I always like to make is people will ask us, you know, do we practice with sound in the stadium to get them used to game day, which we don't. It's a really silent. I would assume you would completely silent. But the joke I always like to make is, you know, if you think the stadium is loud, try pulling out an eagle in front of like a kindergarten class. It's about the same value. Oh, those brick walls too. Yeah. So just that constant, those three educational shows we do a year, they just constantly are exposed to that noise and they just kind of tune it out. Now it's it's with them. It's just another day. It's just 90,000 people happen to be watching that day. So it's just that repetition of getting them in the stadium every single day practicing. They literally will start drooling when they see the field. Yeah. They're just so trained that Pavlov's dog. And they're so trained they know that that's where they're going to get fed that day. I did want to mention as part of that 25 years you're, you're starting a fundraiser as well. You know Raptor Center I can only imagine 300 eagle or eagles, 300 animals. You take care of the year. Funding is a big part of that. If you could this this, special 25 year anniversary fundraiser. You guys are kind of kicking off here with football season. You could speak a little bit about that. Yeah. So this is an invitation for the community and Auburn family to rally behind this tradition. And invite them to participate in our wider mission as well. We're trying to shine a light on how those War Eagle flights really carry on their wings. The entire Raptor Center. So each year we spend about $150,000 in medical care for our birds. We spend about $70,000 on their diets. It is a celebration of where we're coming from with the flights. As much as we're looking forward and setting ourselves up for, the next 25 years with the hopes of soaring even higher, that's wonderful. Well, I am looking forward to seeing, what this season brings. I'm looking forward to many Eagle flights. It is truly, I'm a bit biased, I will admit, but I've seen a lot of cool things in sports I have. I used to work at Clemson, which I know where you get your PhD. I've seen the Hill run. It's really cool. However, there is nothing cooler than the Eagle flight. There's not. I stand by that and again, I'm biased, whatever. That is the single coolest thing in sports, period. But bar none, if we're seeing anybody go, any of our listeners go to, get more information and you have a website and, you know, you're part college of that med. So obviously vet med students have a know all about you guys, but want to learn more information, get to know you guys. Come see you. Where would be a great place to go for that Albany edu slash Raptor. I love you guys being trained. This is great. You guys are so great. This is awesome. I can also give a shout out to our social media. So we're constantly doing patient highlights, program highlights, sharing the stories of the Raptors that call our facility home or are temporarily staying there until they can return to the wild. So it's a great way to connect with us and see those behind the scenes working. The other, you know, days of the year when we're not flying our Eagles at football. You know, it is weird. It's like it is very public, but only it's only a handful days a year. It is the job is is a year round job. But, as part of our 25 year anniversary fundraiser, what's the pipe dream? The vision, the hope? Who knows what the future will hold, right? But what's kind of the direction you're hoping to take the Auburn University Raptor Center with with this fundraiser. We're hoping to use this as a launchpad for making that master plan that we've been talking about and to a reality. Our goal is to return to the days where the public can come and visit us freely. See the aviary, see the birds, walk through the War Eagle Museum, and, of course, join us for a educational program and an indoor amphitheater and an outdoor amphitheater. Wonderful. We need to find the next Andrew that's going to be there for the next 20, 30 years. Right. We got to break ground to kind of find that. Yeah, we gotta we gotta find the next one wandering out there. One of the most common questions we get is from alumni saying, you know, I remember when I used to go to Auburn and I could just walk past the Eagle every single day. We were just talking about earlier. We may literally be right where the Eagle used to be. Yeah, right here in the studio. You're honestly probably right. We were just talking about earlier that that's kind of been like, people don't even realize that I didn't I never I wasn't around when that was like that. But it's, it was so cool that that was you're able to do that that that'd be awesome. Yeah. So we want to get back to that right now. Our facility facility just wasn't built in a way to allow the public to just come in kind of whenever they want. We just don't really have that separation between public access and where we keep our raptors. So the new master plan would really allow more of a zoological, type facility where people could just come in and Tuesday afternoon, let's do it. Yep. Yeah, I love that. And then as as well now I'm just going to I'm going to shamelessly read it because I really am going to get the letters mixed up here. All right. The football fans and feathers events that we do, you guys do as well as part of that. I know it's kind of it's not exactly a permanent structure place, but it is a good way to introduce people to be around people, football fans and feathers. What's what is it people can expect to get out of those events? It is an incredible Bird of Prey show. So we will fly our educational ambassadors right over your heads while teaching you about their natural history and how you can join us in their conservation. It's every Friday for for home game. Gates open at 3 p.m.. The show starts at 4 p.m.. We invite you to come out and see it, because it's truly one of a kind. And a bonus is that at the end of the show, we bring all the birds back out so we could get a new family photo for your mantle with the War Eagle and with our other educational ambassadors as well. Who doesn't need a good Christmas card photo? You have no idea how many Christmas cards I've been in over the years. I get told that all the time. How many fridges do you think you have been on drew? Just a lot and it's just a mind. I just shake people's hands. The one time I went to the actually the athletic auction for Under Armor, not auction, but the surplus sale for Under Armor and some guy turned around to talk to his wife, and he looked at me and he said, how do I know you? I said, probably with the Raptor Center. He said, that's it. I got a photo of you on my fridge. So that's what it is like. You walk in and it's like, you know, we we this is our first time we've officially formally met, right? But I'm I, I've known you forever because I see you all the time. Right? I recognize you so clearly because I see you at every game and that. Yeah. No, you've been in a lot of Christmas cards. Photos. Oh, he has a lot of family photos. A lot of, family newsletter email blast. Go out. Look what we did this weekend. And there's Andrew. Well, I want to say thank you guys for joining so much. I appreciate you spending some time with us and looking forward to seeing you guys on the sidelines this year. A lot of wins bring, you know, bring some good luck to the team. Looking forward to it. And good luck with your fundraiser and looking forward to the 50th anniversary of Eagle Flight here. Oh yes. Andrew and I may still be around then Andrew will be for sure is a joy that 100%. I know that for again, I'm just waiting for the statue of me to be built during the master plan. Yeah, that's the next one. That's the next we're going to get maybe right next to Abby in front of Student Center. Just photo of me. The statue, at least the name on the building for that. I'll put in a good word for you there. Yeah. For sure. Well, I appreciate you guys spending some time with us. And I want to thank you for listening. We're looking forward to everything we're going to do this year. This is season three, episode one. We're looking forward to another Year of Awesome podcast. And if I can humble brag for a moment, an award winning podcast now. So shout out to shout to the podcast. Shout out to Kim, our researcher off screen here. But, I want to thank you for listening. Looking forward to another great year of podcasting. We'll be back again next month with another member of the Auburn family. And until then, War Eagle! War Eagle!