Birb Day

Inspirational song: Let the Eagle Soar (John Ashcroft)

Days like today are why it is beneficial never, ever to miss a Rotary meeting. It was my day to set up the banners and gavel and whatnot, so I arrived plenty early. I wouldn't have missed today either way. But just as I was finishing setup, with the aid of my fellow sergeants-at-arms, the guest speaker arrived with his assistants. Today was the day for the raptor educational outreach program. We had birds of prey in the hall with us today. It was fantastic!

The speaker was the founder of this program, called HawkQuest. He created it back in the 80s, when he discovered there was keen interest for him to bring the birds he has rescued and rehabilitated to show to kids (and Rotary clubs and governors of Colorado, among others). His birds are poor candidates for release back into the wild for one reason or another. The Harris hawk and great horned owl he showed us had poorly-healed wings after accidents. The bald eagle had been rescued as a fledgling, and imprinted on humans as caregivers, and thus did not have parents to teach her to hunt. We got to see all three of these birds, and a few members of the club were allowed to come get photos with the birds. I made sure I got in that group, grinning like a maniac with the owl next to me.

We learned about the matriarchal structure of raptor groups, and were given relatable descriptions of how well they can see and hunt in the wild. He demonstrated the owl's ability to turn her head roughly 270 degrees around, thanks to her species having 14 neck vertebrae instead of 7 like most of us mammals. And then he let the hawk fly over the crowd, which was so much fun to watch. She went low over us, much lower than any of us expected. And just before he wrapped up, the bald eagle demonstrated her powerful excretory functions, and he told us a story of one of his raptors being invited to a signing ceremony in former Colorado Governor Lamm's office, which was carried live on television, and right at the end, she decided it was time to poop. Yay, working with animals!