Birds of Prey

I decided to use the binoculars I got for Christmas and go out to the Snake River Birds of Prey Conservation Area and the World Center for Birds of Prey yesterday. Paul was nice enough to tag along even though he really didn’t care that much to go bird watching.

I got into birds of prey, or raptors, in the 6th grade. My teacher, Mrs. Griffith, loved them and taught us everything she knew, which was quite a bit. We had a fund raiser and took at field trip to the World Center for Birds of Prey. I lived in Twin Falls at the time and it was a BIG, LONG bus ride to Boise, but I was totally enamored. I used to be able to identify birds when they flew over head, but not anymore.

We drove out to the conservation area first and stopped at Dedication Point. You can walk about a 1/4 mile to the edge of the canyon and watch for birds.

We didn’t get the memo that you were supposed to wear earthy, neutral colored clothes until AFTER we were there. The birds can see bright colors from a mile away, so needless to say we didn’t see anything. Then we drove further to Swan Falls.

I saw 2 Golden Eagles circling over the first area we stopped. One of them dived to scoop up some dinner, but appeared to come up empty handed.

If I had a super zoom camera I would have attempted some pictures and video, but I don’t, so you’ll have to settle for an internet photo of a Golden Eagle.

Afterward we went to the World Center for Birds of Prey. The birds there are in cages and you can get a closer look. Here they breed and release birds of prey into the wild. They have been able to get the Peregrine Falcon off endangered species list. By the way, the Peregrine Falcon is the fastest creature on Earth. We learned it has been clocked at over 200 miles an hour when it dives for prey.

They did a live bird presentation and we got to see a Peregrine Falcon up close. The bird they used, pictured below, is named Jasper. He is about 15 years old and was born at the center. He was never released into the wild because the poor guy is near sighted, even more than me! He is so near sighted that unless they put his food right at his beak he can’t find it so they were never able to release him because he would have starved.

Here are some other pictures of other birds they had. Of course the first one is a Bald Eagle. The other 2 are also eagles but I can’t remember what they were called. They are not native to America. The one with the red face is from Africa and I think the other one is from South America.