I\u2019ve always loved Sitka; though it\u2019s been years since I\u2019ve gone further than the edge of the National Park. I had hoped that today I would finally be able to make the trip to the Fortress of the Bears, but alas \u2013 the tour slot went to someone else (it is random after all). So \u2026at least 8 seasons in Alaska, and I still have not seen a bear. Oh well, maybe next time! Instead of bears, I went for birds..<\/p>\n
The Alaska Raptor Center is about a half an hour walk outside of town, and the easiest path to get there passes through the National Park, so it\u2019s definitely a pretty<\/em> half hour walk. I hadn\u2019t been to the raptor center since my very first contract, which feels like much longer ago than it actually was come to think of it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a smaller building than you would expect; although I\u2019m sure there\u2019s much more too it than you see initially, I still haven\u2019t been to the back to see the full recovery areas. The center\u2019s purpose in life is to find birds of prey in the wild that have been injured (usually by people\u2026grrrrr) and bring them back to a state where they can be released into the wild. It\u2019s definitely not a zoo, but there are a few birds that are in residence permently because they have been damaged so badly that they would be unable to fend for themselves in the wild.<\/p>\n One of these was Spirit, the young bald eagle that was brought out as part of the educational presentation that comes with your ticket. I\u2019ve never been that close to an eagle. If we had been allowed to stand (which we weren\u2019t, as it could startle her) you could have reached out and touched her. She wasn\u2019t hooded, or fettered, although you could see the trusses attached to her legs that the handler could tighten her grip on if she started to bait. That eagled weighs 11 pounds\u2026and her talons have a crushing strength powerful enough that even through five layers of leather the handler said she was easily able to feel the pressure on her arm. If a bird that strong wanted to bait? I think I\u2019d just let her fly\u2026which is why I will likely never fly an eagle.<\/p>\n The rest of the resident birds are in large spacious habitats outdoors. They have at least five bald eagles, a snowy owl, a screech owl\u2026and\u2026a peregrine.<\/p>\n I could stare at that bird all day.<\/p>\n One of the fastest falcon\u2019s in the world, and only small by comparison to its much larger companions \u2013 I have loved the peregrine for longer than I can recall. The ability to fly one is probably the only reason I am so dedicated to one day getting my hawking licence. I want to get to know bird.<\/p>\n The peregrine in residence at the center has been there for almost twenty years, he is basically fully acclimated to people (never ever<\/em> call a bird of prey \u201ctame\u201d they aren\u2019t tame, they will never be tame, they become used to people and people earn their respect, but they are not tame<\/em>) \u2013 and I think if I ever found out who was responsible for the fact that he has an obviously damaged left wing,\u2026.well it\u2019s probably best that that meeting never occur.<\/p>\n Some people leave places like the center as soon as they take their photos, but I could have sat there all day and just stared at that one tiny blue and white bird\u2026<\/p>\n Who, of course, had absolutely no interest in me whatsoever\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve always loved Sitka; though it\u2019s been years since I\u2019ve gone further than the edge of the National Park. I had hoped that today I would finally be able to make the trip to the Fortress of the Bears, but … Continue reading