Birds of Prey Centre
Last year we were asked in Photo Club to donate any photos of “Albertan animals” to the Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale for a photo exhibit they were putting on. My gopher photo was one of the images chosen, so I was given a free guest pass for this year, which I finally used recently.
I wasn’t as intrigued as last year, as I exhausted the photos I could take that time around (opting to take more “noble” looking photos of the birds), so I spent much less time there on this visit. It didn’t help that I felt too impatient to wait for the flight demonstration, after which I could hold an owl again! However, I was pleasantly surprised with some of the photos I captured… all animals can be quite amusing if you watch them long enough!
“Sarah” – she is always my favorite
“Snoopy” – he was very inactive this time, but I still love how ugly he is
gentleman’s beard
This was the first time I’ve noticed the spot on the end of the bill!
It’s hard to take photos of ducks when you have a telephoto lens on and they are chasing you. I think it was worth risking my life for these duck shots though.
Random duck freakout
“Lincoln” – I took every possible angle of him last year… probably including this one!
Signalling to each other to peck your eyes out
This was an interesting moment. This owl was doing fine, minding his own business, until he spotted my mom’s blue umbrella, obviously the owl’s natural predator. He eyed us suspiciously and would not shrink back down until we were at least six feet away. Even then, he cautiously eyed us until we were completely out of site, even straining to peak around the corner of his pen at us for a longer visual!
Blue umbrella!
The most interesting bird cleaning I have seen yet!
