RAPTORS

Ok, so I'm not sure how many of you know about my latest obsession...the raptor. I guess I missed out on the "raptor" portion of childhood and am loving learning all about these cool creatures. For those of you who don't know, raptors are birds of prey that kill their meals using their talons. Raptors include hawks, owls, falcons, eagles, vultures, kites, and harriers. My favorite raptor these days is the barred owl. Their slightly curved beaks are really just used for tearing apart food while they eat and are not that powerful. They are also known for having amazing eyesight. Raptors are also at the top of the food chain and help control pesky rodents in our environment like mice, voles, etc.

As of late, I've been known to shout out "raptor!" when driving around with friends or walking with my class to the public library. This is a picture of a raptor I saw while golfing with my dad last weekend! (isn't it big? I'm guessing it was a hawk of some kind...) I want you all to know I realize my nerd-dom with this last comment.



I was prompted to blog about my interest in raptors after our visit to the Carolina Raptor Center today. After our service work, our partner out there (Louise) walked the kids over to the vulture habitat and commenced to tell them about 6 new vultures that came to the Center yesterday. Apparently, about 50 vultures became trapped in a giant steam stack right outside of Charlotte and had been stuck there for days. The operators of the factory finally turned off the steam only to find about 30 dead vultures and about 20 more stuck inside. The dead vultures seeemed to have died from starvation - a problem that could have been prevented had the workers called the Center earlier.

That's a lot of dead vultures. And dead vultures means an increase in raw carion on the roads and areas in our community as they are "nature's garbage men." The moral of the story is if you see an injured anything be it raptor or otherwise, you should call a rehabilitation facility asap!

If you want to learn more about raptors, check out the wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_of_prey

Maybe I'll create a few more raptor afficionados....