Marla Isaac ruffled some feathers at the Mattapoisett Land Trust's annual meeting on Saturday.

The director of New England Reptile & Raptor Exhibits, Isaac gave the audience a lesson in birds of prey and showed them owls up close.

"Today I'm going to make birds of prey experts out of you," said Isaac, wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.

Isaac brought out several owls, a barred owl named Babe, a barn owl named Rachel, a great horned owl named Athena and a snowy owl named Nanook.

She explained that birds of prey are fragile except for their legs and feet, with talons that can hook their next dinner. They're also descended from dinosaurs.

"A bird is probably nothing more than a T-Rex with teeth," said Isaac.

She described the differences in various birds of prey. For example, owls are always hungry and store food in trees and other places. In the winter, they go to their "refrigerator," get a dead animal they've hidden and sit on it to thaw it so they feast.

Isaac said birds can sometimes be taken down by their own prey.

Dead ospreys have been found that were drowned when their talons hooked onto heavy fish and pulled them under water.

"That is the fairness of nature," said Isaac.

She also stressed the need for humans to be aware of the importance birds of prey play in the life cycle.

"We still need it for a healthy world," she said of the ecosystem. "We are still connected."

The raptor expert said it's best to leave the birds alone in the wild and not to assign them with human attributes. Several of Isaac's birds have been deemed unfit for release into the wild, due to interference from humans.

See photos of the birds below.