Saturday, October 4, 2008

World Bird Sanctuary

The World Bird Sanctuary out of Missouri came to our local nature center and did a program on birds of prey. I grabbed my camera and went! It was a great little program. They brought about 10 birds for us to see.
This Bald Eagle is blind due to a car accident and ultimately cannot be released back into the wild. He gets to travel in their education program.
The Owls were by far my favorite. I fell in love with this little Screech Owl!! I just wanted to take him home so bad. I told him he could live in my back yard and I'd feed him all the mice he wanted; he wasn't impressed.
Look how magnificent this guy is. I forgot what kind of Owl he was... some horned type I think.
They told us that the eyes of this owl take up 2/3 of his skull leaving very little room for his brain. So the old saying "Wise Old Owl" really isn't true after all.
I learned that the Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal in the world and can fly 200 mph.
It was a fun way to spend a few hours this afternoon.

4 comments:

Minerva said...

Those pictures are great! I love that cute little screech owl, too. He's so cute. I think the other owl is a Great Horned Owl. We used to hear them down at my grandmother's on the water. They have a very impressive "Hoot" !

gerry said...

Rocky Gap in western Maryland has a small bird of prey sanctuary also. I visit it every November. I have only seen an eagle caged, either at the zoo or recooping at the center. Makes me kinda sad that they are not out flying.

Jen said...

Well this was right up your alley! but what?? no owl pellets?

Shelley said...

You got such great pictures! I would have love to have seen these birds up close!