By Michelle Wilson
Rodney Stotts wants us all to “look up.” Known as “Bird Man,” Stotts, 54, is a Master Falconer, a professional licensed to hunt game with raptors, often called birds of prey, including eagles and hawks. He rehabilitates, trains, and releases injured and young birds who need help during their first winter. Additionally, Stotts keeps birds that cannot survive in the wild for education programs.
Stotts grew up in an area of Southeast DC with low community investments in schools, housing, physical and mental health care and environmental protection. As a teenager, Stotts began dealing drugs in order to financially stay afloat.
In 1992, at the height of DC’s crack cocaine crisis, Stott attended 33 funerals, most of which were for young DC residents. Afraid that he might not live to the age of 21, he found a job with a non-profit environmental organization, initially to earn documented income to rent an apartment. Stotts began working with a group of teens who removed tires, furniture, plastic, and other trash from the Anacostia River. The project was part of a larger program focused on “rewilding” the river and Chesapeake Bay Watershed with native species. Then, the river was too polluted to sustain hungry raptors with fish, turtles, and other prey.
Stotts spent part of 2002 in jail, which he describes as the “the best thing that ever happened to me, because I was tired of violence and sick of stressing out Mom.” Upon returning to the community, Stotts rejoined the non-profit, which introduced wild bald eagles to the much-cleaner Anacostia, using chicks from a Wisconsin program. Stotts helped care for and release the birds. Now, numerous pairs nest in the area.
Stotts loved raptors and wanted to help local youth. He decided that beginning a raptor education program would help keep youth out of trouble and inspire them to “look up.”
He needed a sponsor to start the seven-year Master Falconers program. Requirements include a two-year apprenticeship with a sponsor, a state licensing exam and a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an inspection of his aviary, and five years as a General Falconer. DC does not have a falconry program, so Stotts holds licenses in Maryland and Virginia. He faced racism from falconers and others as he sought licensure and pursued his career. Very few Black falconers hold state licenses and federal permits. Some prospective sponsors didn’t view him as “serious,” and wouldn’t mentor him. “I called [a prospective mentor] to find out about getting a sponsor, and the guy said to me, ‘But you’re Black. Black people don’t fly birds—y’all eat them. These are hawks, you know, they ain’t chickens.’” Police once stopped him when he was traveling with raptors and made him lie on the ground while they examined his permit.
Stotts found an excellent sponsor, Suzanne Shoemaker, a wildlife biologist, Master Falconer and educator. After earning his license, he started Rodney’s Raptors, initially installing his aviary on his property in Northeast DC. He sponsored several other falconers, including his son, Mike, who will become a Master Falconer in 2026. He took Harriet, a Harris Hawk, on his gloved arm, to the streets of DC, where she flew high, scaring and delighting residents, then returned to the sound of a whistle for a mouse treat. A soldier asked that Rodney surprise his girlfriend with a marriage proposal. When the bird flew in with the engagement ring and note, she said yes.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Metropolitan Police Department, Kenilworth Gardens, Baltimore Green Space, DC public schools, North Carolina Raptor Center and other organizations have hired Rodney’s Raptors for community environmental education programs. Raven, a red-tail hawk, XYZ, a peregrine falcon, Mr. Hoots, a Eurasian Eagle Owl, and other family members from his aviary traveled constantly. Mr. Hoots also accompanied Stotts on the book tour for his 2022 memoir, Bird Brother: A Falconer’s Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife, and appears with other birds in The Falconer, a 2021 documentary film about Stotts’ career as a Master Falconer, educator and environmental activist.
When face-to-face youth programs closed due to the Covid pandemic, Stotts moved Rodney’s Raptors to a seven-acre farm in Charlotte Courthouse, VA, about two and a half hours from DC. He named his new home Dippy’s Dream, in memory of his mother who took tremendous pride in his transformed life and career. He describes the sanctuary as a “retreat from noise pollution, light pollution and violence.” Dippy’s Dream has campgrounds, and animals, including horses, goats, and rabbits. He encourages city youth and all others to visit and look up.
