Raptor Center Open House

I'm late getting this post up, but I did take Paul to the Open House last Saturday. It was very worthwhile.  I talked with the Bird Man (Kevin) and asked him, "So when Paul is 12 and is able to volunteer here, what exactly will he do?" He said the first thing they do is ... clean the cages of the birds. The second thing often prevents volunteers from moving up the ranks. The next thing Paul would have to do is learn to cut up the meat for the birds. The uncooked, raw rabbits, mice, and other meats that come to the center for the birds to eat. Yikes. But wow would he love to interact with these animals and teach people all about birds! 6 more years to go.

One of the first things we saw was the world's smallest kestrel, which is a type of falcon. See the black feathers coming down from his eyes? That "sunglasses strategy" is where football players got the idea to use the black stripes under their eyes during games. Fighter jets are also designed after the beaks of these fast flying birds.

This great-horned owl was an amazing sight to behold. I have always wanted to see an owl in the wild so this was the highlight for me without doubt. This is the look he gave me as I walked up the hill where he was being held. His eyes are mesmerizing. They are a very bright glowing yellow, it is like looking at the parking lights of a car.

He gave us a view of his wingspan as the volunteers changed hands.

He is "panting" here because of the heat; his beak is open and the white feathers near his neck would move in and out to help reduce his body heat. He is an educational bird and was not able to go back to the wild because he has poor eyesight. He failed "the mouse test" - this is where, in a huge two story building used to re-train the recovered birds how to hunt (or see if they still can), they let prey loose for the birds. This guy couldn't find the mouse so he is now used to educate the public and volunteers.

This beautiful and small (about 8 inches tall) barn owl sat inside a small box at the entrance. So different from the great horned, with a facial disk easy to identify.