Raptor Awareness Day

Today I want to share a few images taken on March 31.

A Rocha held a Raptor Awareness day,which turned out to be a huge success and a lot of fun.

When I looked out of the house in the morning,this little fella had come to get breakfast.

I thought he/she looked quite cute,posing for me this way.

The rabbit was cute,but this day it was all about the birds and I could hardly wait to get to the Raptor Awareness event.We were pleasantly surprised at the amount of visitors all day.

The ladies in the canteen served a delicious lunch of sandwiches and soup.

The most visited table was the one with the live Raptors.

The handler was kind enough to take this Great-horned Owl outside so we could get better pictures.

Isn't he a pretty bird?

Also on display was this pretty girl,an American Kestrel.

She was quite impressed with herself and would try every trick in her book to get attention.

Often when someone approached the table she would flutter her wings.Her handler said this was an attempt to get your attention.

Another bird on display was this Red-tailed Hawk.

This is a bird we usually see flying in the sky or sitting on a utility pole,so it was a treat to see this bird up close.This was also a female and a very calm bird.Just look those eyes,they are taking it all in.

In the wild these eyes are used to see prey from a long ways off.

After this event had wound down,I headed over to the Pembina Valley to check on the Hawk Migration.

The migration this year has been very disappointing with very few birds.

on this day it was no different,the hawk numbers were low,but an unexpected treat came when a large flock of Sandhill Cranes circled over our heads.This picture shows only a portion of the flock.I love how they light up when the sun hits them just right.

Thought for today:

 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom has thou made them all: the earth is full of your riches. 

Psalm 104:24