Meet the Laurel Fork Falconer

 One of the youngest,  licensed Master Class Falconers in the state  of West Virginia, Collin Waybright has been practicing falconry since he was 14 years old. He started this adventure by trapping his first falconry  bird, a Red-Tailed Hawk named Ace, from the wild. Collin has also  trained an American Kestrel for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History  in Pittsburgh, PA, and is one of the youngest people in the US, at the  age of 18, to work with a Bald Eagle. The Bald Eagle, Mr. Spectacular,  is a non-releasable bird and is now an educational ambassador. Collin is  a homeschool graduate and that in itself allowed him to follow his  passion as a falconer and education. His hopes are to impact his home state of West Virginia, and surrounding states, by providing educational presentations that help people understand the nature of birds of prey and help people realize that they  are a very important part of the environment in which we live. Right after graduation, he spent 10 months working at the Ararat Ridge Zoo  located at the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY where he was apart of their animal education team. Armed with over 9  years of experience being a falconer, working with a raptor rehab center, and the Ararat Ridge Zoo, Collin has worked with a number of  different birds including some that a raptor would consider "lunch".  Collin was the Executive Director of a raptor rehab center in West Virginia for over a year and traveled more than 10,000 miles doing  Raptor Educational programs. In the summer of 2022, Collin presented a falconry program for the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the European Union in Washington DC.  People are often amazed at Collin's God-given talent of working seemingly effortlessly with birds. Of course, if you ask him, he will assure you that there is more to training birds than what meets the eye. 

 What an honor it was to receive this note of encouragement from  the Secretary of the State of West Virginia, Mac Warner.  Thank you sir  for your kind words.