Engage. Educate. Conserve.

Raptor conservation begins with a compassionate community. We work to educate & serve that community with accessible raptor education programs, high-quality raptor equipment for professionals & falconers (coming soon!), and progressive raptor husbandry practices that place animal wellbeing at the forefront of our mission.

[email protected]707.394.6763 (text or call!)

We're located in the Guerneville area of Sonoma County, California.

About Nerd of a Feather

Our mission at Nerds of a Feather is to approach all aspects of our work — education, husbandry, and falconry equipment — with compassion, earnestness, and quality. We believe good education engages its audience, teaches them accurately, and encourages them to participate in stewardship of the natural world; and we believe that happy, healthy birds are the best way to show audiences what healthy relationships with wildlife can be.

We want to share the awe we felt when we saw raptors close-up for the first time with others.We want to raise the standard for education programming with accurate, modern, accessible ornithology.We want to train birds for education who love the job that they do, because they have fun doing it, and have trust in their handlers.We want to educate people in how to healthily engage with the natural world, and we hope that will inspire them to conserve it.

Cast & Crew

Nerd of a Feather was founded by Morgan Beliz, and he's joined by fellow Mello (they/them) and spouse Hélder (he/him). The cast is Kulshedra (hatched 2019) and Louis (hatched 2021), two Harris' hawks captive-bred for falconry.Morgan was born in love with raptors, and he knows that the same compassion for the natural world lives in everyone. His journey began when he was eight years old and an educator let him hold one of their red-tails. Four years later, he was taking ornithology at the College of Marin, and by fifteen he was training his own red-tails for falconry. Since then, he's been involved in numerous pursuits, including participating in published American goshawk research, interning in condor propagation at The Peregrine Fund, and assistant managing a raptor rehabilitation program. Today, he holds his own master falconry permit, and looks forward to spending more time focusing on his own outreach endeavors.

Contact Us!

Questions? Concerns? Thoughts on the latest birder's digest, a dire need for ridiculous raptor pictures, or an itching query regarding hawk eyeballs? Feel free to reach out to us!