Birds of Prey

Boise has a wonderful attraction called the "World Center for Birds of Prey". It is the headquarters of the Peregrine Fund which saved the endangered Peregrine falcon from near certain extinction. The last time I was there was when Matt was an 8 year old cub scout...that was the last time Matt was there too! Scott's last time was when his 1st grade class went on a field trip. We decided that before I moved, another visit was in order.

One new exhibit was the Condor Cliffs where California Condors live, breed and are eventually released into the Grand Canyon area. They are BIG impressive looking birds. I didn't know that they are scavengers who eat only carrion.

We explored the "Arabian Falconry" exhibit and Matt and Scott even agreed to pose outside the Bedouin tent and in the tent.

In the live bird show we saw a Swainson's Hawk. His trainer threw yummy rat tails high into the air. He easily caught and devoured them in one or two gulps. This particular type of hawk spends the summer here in Idaho and the winter in Argentina or Uruguay. That's quite the trip each year.

We also saw a crow. Although he is not a bred of prey, he is pretty entertaining! Birds of prey, or raptors, are meat eaters and use their feet, instead of their beak, to capture prey. They have exceptionally good vision with large prominent eyes, a sharp, hooked beak, and powerful feet with curved, sharp talons. The crow isn't a raptor but he is one smart bird. The trainer showed us one of his tricks. She said he learned this with just a few minutes of training. She had him sitting on a stick and attached to that stick by a small rope was a basket that held a treat. The crow used his beak to bring the rope up & up, holding it with his foot as it got shorter until the treat basket was close enough for him to eat the treat.

At the end of the show she asked for donations of dollars to help feed the birds. People would walk up and hand the bird a dollar and he'd go and put it through an opening into a box. Who knew that crows were so intelligent? I certainly didn't!

I can't remember the specific name of this bird, but he is pretty. He's from Africa.

If you are interested, here is their website. http://www.peregrinefund.org/default.asp