Raptor Tuesday

Tuesday was a partially sunny day, with some rain mixed in between parts where the clouds opened up enough to emit the sun.  This morning (Wednesday) is very foggy and grey, which, I suppose, will make it a good writing morning--epecially since Mark had to go into work instead of telecommuting and The Child was up very, very late and probably wont emerge from his bedroom until Noon. 

Yesterday, I went to the Cascades Raptor Center and got there just as they were opening.  I haven't been in a while, and the weather was mostly sunny,  although there was a ten minute sprinkle early on.  Some of the residents' aviaries have moved:  Amazon the Golden Eagle is closer to the parking lot and Uriel the Red-tailed Hawk.   

I chatted with some of the handlers throughout my visit (I know C. from a previous life).  Various residents were fed and weighed during my visit and I got to see Archemedies the Snowly Owl transform from his usual bowling-pin pose into a hungry raptor; Bohdi the Barred Owl hopped down for her food--she's usually parked up in a corner perch; Padawan the Barn Owl came out of his box to gulp a bit of rabbit fur; Parker hovered for extra treats and even caught the last one in mid-air; Jake the new Peregrine Falcon was active even before feeding time.  I visited my favorites, Atticus the Bald Eagle, Banjo the Eastern Red-Tailed Hawk, Lethe the Turkey Vulture, and Dante the Golden Eagle.   I was lucky enough to photograph Banjo and Guapo the Swainson's Hawk when they were brought out of their aviaries.  

I was speaking to C. about the possibility of shadowing handlers in order to photograph the resident birds more clearly inside their aviaries -- which it turns out would not be a Good Idea -- and it struck me how I've gotten so used to visiting the raptors (and photographing the ones that can come out to meet the public), that I was considering them somewhere between domestic pets or Lipizzan Stallions  and  stopped thinking of them as trained-but-still-wild animals being cared for because of developmental or physical injuries.   Even after Guapo gulped down a dead baby chick whole, or Padawan ripped off gobbets of meat from rabbit bones.