George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center

09/05/2026

09/03/2026

Chick on a wick!
Wicks are a multipurpose tool. Their official task is holding water to help maintain proper humidity levels in the incubators and hatchers. For the Masked Bobwhite aviculturists, wicks have an additional function: preventing energetic chicks from popping free of their nest cups when the tray lid is removed. This is what the aviculturists refer to as "getting wick'd"!

08/31/2026

More chicks! 🐣

The second set of Masked Bobwhite chicks for 2026 have hatched and are ready to play their important role in the recovery of the species!

08/21/2026

After a record breaking 533 eggs laid during, the breeding season the adult APC are enjoying some down time in the native prairie enclosures. They will remain outside until late fall when they will be brought back to the indoor enclosures before winter weather arrives.

08/20/2026

The last vacation destination you can bid on in the Wild Brew silent auction!

The Sutton Center has partnered with the American Fundraising Foundation to bring you an exclusive "Trips of a Lifetime" silent auction at our upcoming Wild Brew fundraising event!

From the moment you arrive, Costa Rica will enchant you with its pristine beaches, exquisite vistas, dense green rainforests, mountain volcanoes, magnificent wildlife, and amazing wonders of nature found nowhere else in the world!
Visit the link below to learn more about this dream trip to Costa Rica:
https://www.amfund.org/trips/colorful-costa-rica-full-details/
Unable to attend Wild Brew? Need a proxy bidder? No problem! For more information regarding these fabulous travel experiences, please contact American Fundraising Foundation - AmFund representative Monica Sakurai at [email protected] or directly at (386) 334-1599.

08/19/2026

It is World Photo Day, a day for sharing photos with an emphasis on their use in telling a story. To celebrate, here are a few photos and short stories to go with them from our staff members who double as wildlife photographers.

Lily Grant - Aviculturist
Killdeer chick ~ Killdeer are a precocial species, meaning that from birth (hatching) they are highly matured. Chicks can leave their nest just hours after hatching, a huge advantage for a species that nests in the open on the ground. This chick is just 1 day old and can already forage for its own food, hide itself from predators, and follow its parents around rather than rely on them coming to it.

Dan Reinking - Interim Director/Senior Biologist
Summer Tanager ~ A fundamental reason photography has been and remains a compelling medium is its ability to freeze a moment in what is otherwise the unstoppable and fleeting march of time. This second-year male summer tanager with its blotchy, in-between plumage will only look like this for a relatively short time before it molts into its bright red, adult male plumage.

Kendall Van Zanten - Research Biologist
LeConte's Sparrow ~ Birds are remarkably well adapted to survival. Birds in cold climates, or like this sparrow caught in a frigid snowstorm despite having migrated south for the winter, can often be found fluffed up, transforming themselves into what is colloquially known as a "borb". By fluffing their feathers out, which are insulating by themselves, they trap a layer of warm air around their body, creating a buffer between their skin and the cold surrounding air.

08/18/2026

If you need plans for Saturday evening, here's a chance to win free tickets to Wild Brew!

Wild Brew is flying in to Arvest Convention Center again on Saturday, August 22 and we are giving you a chance to win a pair of tickets!

Here’s how to enter:
1. Like this post
2. Follow Arvest Convention Center and Wild Brew
3. Tag who you're bringing!

Contest ends Thursday, August 20 at noon.

08/18/2026

Thank you to the Wild Brew sponsors for their support!

08/18/2026

Covey up...or pile up? 🤔
When loafing, quail groups form a ground roosting circle, also known as a covey. This behavior gives them a 360-degree view to keep watch for predators. It also conserves body heat in cold temperatures.
These three-week-old chicks take a different approach, quail piles. As they age, the naive chicks will learn to form covey circles. Until then, they are content to pile up.
How many chicks can you spot?

08/17/2026