my 1st year daughter belongs to her high schools Raptor Center here in Guntucky.
the center takes care of sick and injured raptor's, rehab's them and release back to the wild when ready. its all volunteer and donation funded. they have a vet that volunteers his services, the kids do the nursing, feeding, and other things. AFAIK this is the only school based program in the country.
saddest thing for me is "Independence" their American Bald Eagle. some idiot shot him thinking he was shooting a turkey vulture. Indy had to have the wing amputated. its heart breaking to see that magnificient bird try to fly and only flop's around on the ground, even just extending the remaining wing will throw him off balance. the shooter was charged with the crime. Indy will have to be cared for the rest of his life. they also have a variety of owls, hawks and a black vulture. one of the owls is also a permanent resident because of catarac's in one eye.
my girl and other noobies start at the bottom literally, cleaning the cages. she wants to handle the birds. but she will get to that point as the seniors graduate.
good kids doing good works, something we do not hear much on the msm.
i wish there was a website to post. but the one they have is out dated, and rather lame. more oriented to the students.
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MOE! LARRY! THE CHEESE!
Life Member the Elmer Fudd Hunt Club
I am so sorry to hear this and I wished I had'nt read it. Though I am thankful these young people take of there time to care for our wildlife. This is sad to me to read where someone shot a Bald Eagel.
PaPa Thank you for shareing ...A.H
I saw a Bald Eagle get hit by a car while returning from coyote hunting near my old Army base in CA. I stopped and picked it up and put it in the pick up truck and took it to the port of entry. When I told the officer what had happened it brought a tear to my eye and she had tears streaming down her face. She said she watched it fly and hunt near the station almost everyday. I can not believe how big those birds really are.
FWIW, Ohio has a raptor center near Toledo. Nothing at the high school level to my knowledge, but still the work is important.
That idiot who shot the bird would face just as serious a fine for shooting the Vulture. All raptors are protected under the treaty between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. I believe the fine can be as high as $10,000 plus some jail time. The only possible exception here in Ohio is if the bird is in the habit of killing stock (chickens) and you get a permit from the game warden.
I love the big flesh eating birds. I had a rough shouldered Hawk visit my feeder every once in a while last winter to feed on a tweetie bird or two. A couple of time he sat on the porch, surveyed the Holly bush, then jumped in the bush and came out with lunch. It was really neat to see.
__________________ Teach
Taxpayers voting for Obama are like chickens voting for Colonel Sanders.
I used to "hunt" eagles in Alaska with my camera. I climbed trees and did some crawling to sneak up on them for the right picture.
Beautiful and majestic birds. I could watch them for hours.
Homer, Alaska is the place where I saw the most. They'd come through there in flocks in the Spring and Fall. I've seen at least a hundred in a one mile area on the spit (at the same time). Beautiful, no other word for it.
I was once on an Army tour boat out of Seward. The crew threw out a fish (probably 6-8 pounds or more) and an eagle came down to get it. He couldn't quite lift it out of the water. Instead of letting it go, he swam, yep SWAM all the way back to shore with it in its talons. It must have been at least 1/8 mile, probably more. We sat and watched the whole time. He drug the fish up on shore and just sat there, didn't move. You could tell it wore him out completely. I thought it very fitting that our national symbol displayed so much determination in front of a tour boat of young GIs.
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"It doesn't matter how small you are if you have faith and a plan." - Some Commie
There's a group of bald eagles that hangs out at a couple of Connecticut reservoirs not too far from here as the eagle flies. Sometimes in the fall one or two of them will make a day trip to the lake half a mile from my house and settle in the trees at the lake looking for dinner. They're quite tolerant of people taking pictures of them provided you don't get closer to their tree than 30 yards or so.
Highest concentration of bald eagles I've EVER seen is the extreme northwest. The very northwest corner of washington. I went for a two week stay, and stopped counting at 27, ON THE THIRD DAY OF THE TRIP.
The guy you just insulted is a 7-year and respected member of this forum.
You come in here and insult the man as he posts a meaningful thread about something that's important to his family and many people here?
Either get some manners or get lost. Mindless and disrespectful posts like yours have no place here.
If you can't mind your manners, go to Fark or someplace like that; you'll fit in better.
thank you Patriot for coming to my defense. i did not see what ever was posted, but i believe you did me a favor. also thanks for correcting the title. i corrected the text, but am not able to fix the title.
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MOE! LARRY! THE CHEESE!
Life Member the Elmer Fudd Hunt Club
Homer, Alaska MUST be the greatest concentration of bald eagles ever !! I have a very favorite flyfishing spot, here in town, where I see a bald eagle male almost daily. He is fishing the same beaver ponds I fish. And he has "stooped" on more than one fish I was bringing to net !! Spectacular to say the least !!
__________________ I keep tellin ya Doc, I'm in pretty good shape considerin the shape I'm in !!
Last edited by SwedeSteve; 10-02-2009 at 02:14 AM.
Reason: typo, and fortyxdm is a sissy, LOL !!
Our local "History and Natural Science Museum" has many animals that live here locally, and they do have an Eagle - unfortunately injured like Indy. He will never fly again.
A few years back, I had a mated pair of Red-tailed Hawks who made their nest in a tree in my backyard. My squirrel population dwindled rapidly. Once the young one was able to fly, they all left - have not been back since. I also see and hear owls every so often. Gotta love nature!
We see the big Eagles on our local lakes, fishing for their dinner - or stealing from other smaller raptors.
my 1st year daughter belongs to her high schools Raptor Center here in Guntucky.
the center takes care of sick and injured raptor's, rehab's them and release back to the wild when ready. its all volunteer and donation funded. they have a vet that volunteers his services, the kids do the nursing, feeding, and other things. AFAIK this is the only school based program in the country.
saddest thing for me is "Independence" their American Bald Eagle. some idiot shot him thinking he was shooting a turkey vulture. Indy had to have the wing amputated. its heart breaking to see that magnificient bird try to fly and only flop's around on the ground, even just extending the remaining wing will throw him off balance. the shooter was charged with the crime. Indy will have to be cared for the rest of his life. they also have a variety of owls, hawks and a black vulture. one of the owls is also a permanent resident because of catarac's in one eye.
my girl and other noobies start at the bottom literally, cleaning the cages. she wants to handle the birds. but she will get to that point as the seniors graduate.
good kids doing good works, something we do not hear much on the msm.
i wish there was a website to post. but the one they have is out dated, and rather lame. more oriented to the students.
Papa G - This is, as the younger folks would say, unusually "cool". They are indeed majestic birds. In the 1980's, I did some fairly regular bass fishing at Truman Lake here in Missouri. There was a an area near the Bucksaw launch that had a size large Bald Eagle nest at the top of a dead (dying) tree that was much taller than the other trees coming out of the water. The area had been bouyed off with a "no wake" restriction. I remember looking at the Eagle on one occasion as we went by, and it watch us the entire time it took us to go by some 150 yards away. That nest was used for quite a few years. I assume it was the same Eagles that occupied it. Please keep us posted on your daughters experience.
Awesome to hear about a group that is getting the kids involved. The more kids involved the less chance of their being idiots in the future who think they can shoot what they like.
I did my time with wildlife rescue many years ago... my specialty was the slithery kind. And also worked at a reptile park... funny how you would get some guy in with is chest all puffed out about how he killed some death adder in his front garden, only to look in horror at a chopped up blue tongue lizard...
Or the 3 ft goanna terrorizing the kids when you get there its a 3 legged blue tongue being poked with sticks by said kids.
the Raptor club 
good kids doing good works, something we do not hear much on the msm.
Teach
