Mature Bald Eagle

Calvin and I spent last weekend learning about birds of prey and falconry.


This is actually a young bald eagle. It's full grown but won't develope it's white head until it more mature. I couldn't believe how large she was!






This is one of the hawks that Calvin was handling. She is a beauty!

Some facts:
Raptors are characterized by a hooked beak, strong feet with sharp talons, keen eyesight(8 times sharper than ours or 100 times sharper than mine..haha), and acarnivorous diet.
Hooked Beak - The raptor's beak sets it apart from other birds. All raptors have the samebeak design, curved at the tip with sharp cutting edges to rip and tear apart their prey.Falcons use their beak to kill their prey by severing the spinal cord.
Sharp Talons - Birds of prey have powerful leg and toe muscles that terminate with sharptalons, making their feet lethal weapons. Their feet are perfectly designed to catch, hold,and carry prey. These toes can apply an extremely powerful grip on their prey, literally crushing it to death. The talons may also kill the prey by piercing the soft tissue and vital organs. Size Difference - Female raptors are generally larger than the males.
Eyes - Raptors have three eyelids! They have a top and bottom eyelid plus a third, transparenteyelid which closes laterally across the eye.

Calvin and I Spent a full day with the different raptors and I can't believe how much we learned in one day.From the biology and all the different type of raptors and their characteristics to what falconry was and the art of it, to interacting with the birds (holding, feeding, flying). It was such a unique and amazing experience.
Near the end of the day we took the raptors for a walk through the forest. They would fly from tree to tree staying close to us and every once in awhile we'd hold out a piece of meat and they would come swoopng down to our arm. In the wild, raptors only fly when they are hunting. They can get tired out and it's was cute to see how they wanted to use you to carry them back once they were tired. Falconry is a team effort between you and the bird and you could tell that there is quite a bond that developes between the bird and the owner. The birds that we trained with were hawks, falcons,owls, a bald eagle and a golden eagle (which has a wing span of 8 feet!). The more time I spent with these birds the more appreciation I had for them and I couldn't get over how intelligent they were.

Can't forget the Butterlies!

I had to throw a moth into the mix.He counts for something too :)