Pre-Solstice Raptor Center

The other day I went to the Cascades Raptor Center.  The last time I went was just before the equinox.  

For whatever reason, the place was packed by 10:10 AM.  I was glad that I had pulled into the parking lot fairly early.  I'm guessing that it was a combination of many of the schools being out, the Olympic Trials being in town, and a recent lifting of some COVID restrictions.   There were lots of little kids, and I could tell when 11:40 hit, because (as I remember from a decade ago) that's typically when they hit the pre-lunch sugar crash.

It was peculiar to be there with so many other patrons.  

Since I've visited, the resident raptors' aviaries have moved around: Banjo has moved up the hill, Amazon's aviary is gone, Kali is living where Dante used to, and Dante lives where Archimedes was.  Other residents have moved, some have passed away, and there are new raptors on the site.

Danu is still chatty and still in her usual site.

I didn't clear my camera's memory, so I ran out of space for tons of pictures this time around.  I still managed to get a few.

The new thing I learned is that vulture's heads are iridescent.  Kali the vulture's head glimmered like the throat of a hummingbird when she was in the sun.  In the past I've either been below the vultures or the sun hasn't been out, so I've never noticed how dazzling red their head's can be when viewed at the right angle.

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.