Sunday, October 3, 2010

Raptor Fest 2010 -- Part 1



Yesterday was the NYC Urban Park Rangers' annual Raptor Fest in Central Park, featuring birds of prey and trainers from the Hawk Creek Wildlife Center.

They had a static display area where rangers were showing off birds to the public and talking about each species, as well as three shows where the falconers actually flew many of the birds. Not without incident, as a territorial wild redtailed hawk decided to get involved and spooked a couple of the birds...

There were also informational booths with educational displays and an owl pellet dissection station.

Mikro had a great time!

First we visit the static display area.




Eastern Screech Owl:


Eurasian Eagle Owl:


Barn Owl:


Saw Whet Owl:


Spectacled Owl:
(Native to the rainforests of South America.)



Harris Hawk:


African Auger Buzzard (closely related to our red tailed hawk):


Ferruginous Hawk:




Gyrfalcon:




Peregrine Falcon:



Saeker Falcon:




Turkey Vulture, aptly named "Barf":




The majestic Golden Eagle. This one, named Canyon, was hit by an airplane, and is not able to fly. Sadly, he can never be released back into the wild. But what a beautiful creature!







This is getting to be a huge post. Guess I'm going to have to split it up. Kev and Mikro are rushing me out the door. Some photos of the educational booths and flight shows when I get back...

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