On Sunday the 20th of January 2008, I went with my
family and a friend to the National Bird of Prey centre, which
is in the countryside, near the village of Newent in the West of
England, about an hour from my home. It was a cold winter’s day
and when we arrived we were the only visitors.
The first thing we saw when we went in was an open area with
loads of birds of prey just standing there on perches, shrieking
away. To the right of us were some baby birds in small aviaries
and everywhere you looked there were more raptors!
Soon we were introduced to one of the main bird keepers
at the centre, named Marcus. As it was a quiet day, he
agreed to show us around. The first thing he showed us
was the hatchery, where they had eggs in a
new incubator (see gallery below) which had a special artificial bird’s
belly made of soft plastic that went up and down to fool
the eggs. Marcus said that the eggs in the incubator
were mostly from Eagle Owls and
Burrowing Owls, the only
birds stupid enough to lay eggs in winter!
He then showed us some eggs with chicks inside as they
developed, by shining a strong torch through the egg. We saw an
embryo inside one egg and even the heart inside another. (see
video.)
Marcus then showed us the goriest thing in the centre,
which was the frozen food section, inside a deep freeze in an
old shed. (see gallery below)
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Opposite the fridge was a very warm compartment for
defrosting the food, but the best bit was the piles of dead
rabbits, pigeons, , chicks, rats and even a dead hare!
Outside the freezer were some eggs which had been collected at
least a hundred years ago. Marcus said they had been emptied in
case they broke and stank the place out! Nowadays raptor eggs
and their nests are protected so it would not be possible to
collect them.
It
was now time to see some raptors fly. First up was a
Ferruginous
Hawk and then a Saker Falcon. It was wonderful to see them fly
because the wings are so much bigger than I imagined. The birds
came out on Marcus’s glove and he said that they are really lazy
and will only fly for food! I was really surprised to learn that
sometimes in the wild they will wait in a tree for days until a
juicy morsel stumbles by.
I
really enjoyed watching the young kestrel he brought out next
because he made it hover for us, it was amazing! He then told us
that he had actually repaired her tail feathers after she had
chewed some off following an accident. To do this he spliced on
some spare feathers from a different kestrel, using carbon fibre
inside the hollow part of the feather.
We
had a small break and then a different trainer came out with a
Magellan’s Horned Owl and a
Great Gray Owl. They were enormous
but we discovered that this was due to the thickness of the
feathers around their bodies. Everyone thinks that owls are wise
but the trainer told us that they are actually quite dim-witted.
The
Great Gray Owl was only a teenager and just would not do as
he was told!
After our picnic we wandered around looking at all the different
raptors, even though it was raining. We saw an
Andean
Condor,
which was much bigger than I expected and it even flew towards
us and showed us his wings, which were huge!
We
also saw a Palm Nut Vulture, a
Burrowing Owl called Bizet who
was really noisy, an
American
Bald Eagle, lots of different owls
and a secretary bird, which was amazing and nothing like any of
the other birds of prey I have ever seen.
Finally, after another owl flight, Marcus brought out some
Turkey Vultures to fly. They were great but really naughty and
did not come when he called. Marcus told us that vultures have
bald heads because it makes them easier to clean after they have
eaten and got them all covered in blood and intestines and
everything else that you find inside dead bodies. Yuk!
By
this time it was dark and we had to go. We were so late we did
not even have time to go around the gift shop, but I did not
care because I had had such a fantastic day and I would
recommend the centre to anybody who is interested in raptors.
Picture Gallery
The incubator
The open incubator
Really old eggs
Looking inside the eggs
Some of these eggs are over 100 years old
Frozen food pile
Frozen MICE! [gulp]
More frozen MICE!
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