Raptor Foundation

The kids and I went with friends to visit the Raptor Foundation near us.  It has been several years since our last visit and they have added some new exhibits.  We had a great time exploring the facility and seeing all the birds and reptiles. I won't even try to identify each of the birds we saw too many to remember:)

American Bald Eagle --  I was actually surprised to see this here as I thought they couldn't leave the States.  They had 3 of them at this facility

We saw lots of types of Owls -- this one hissed every time the kids got near

Fish pond where the children feed the fish

I love that many facilities in the UK often have kids activities to do while touring.  Here we learned lots of information about the different kinds of birds we saw.

This owl was named Leo and was found walking around the grounds freely as it was unable to fly.

This bird had glaucoma in both eyes and could no longer hunt on its own.

It started to rain so they had the flying demonstration indoors -- only the birds weren't very cooperative

Finally one took off:)

Little Man getting a chance to hold an owl...Princess was next in line but then the owl decided it had had enough for the day and needed to be put back in its pen.  Princess was not happy she didn't get a turn:(

Finally the sun came out and we went outside to continue our flying demonstrations.  The bird were much happier and more cooperative this time around

Take off

I love this shot of the bird flying directly over the heads of the audience -- can you see the bird flying just above the heads

Keeper telling us about the birds

Next we went into the Reptile building where we saw many interesting items.  Here were samples of hearts and brains sizes for various animals

Meerkats not sure why they were in the Reptile house, but they were pretty cute

Kids got to feed them, first time for us to feed these little animals they ate wax worms, mealy worms and crickets.  They made lots of interesting sounds

Iguana

python

blue tongue skink

Exploring the skeletons

they had a microscope with a up and too close view (for me) of a tarantula skin 

Kids talked the shop keepers into letting them pet a snake:)

In the education center we saw the different size bird pellets that the birds produce -- In a past class we have dissected a owl pellet which is very interesting and just a teensy bit gross

different size eggs

A school class was here just prior to us entering and they were working on dissecting a pellet.

Princess getting a picture with a Meerkat

Little Man's picture, this little guy was very squirmy and wouldn't stay very still

We had a wonderful visit.  The Reptile facility said they hold keeper classes for kids and I will be looking into it for my kids.  Princess loves reptiles and keeps asking to have a pet snake.  I keep telling her she has to move out and have her own house first.  But doing a class might be very fun for them both.  I plan on calling and making arrangements for this very soon.