Tuesday, November 3, 2009

1st Annual Bird Day at Fairchild

The Miami Science Museum's Falcon Batchelor Bird of Prey Center participated in Fairchild Tropical Garden's first annual bird day. There was a full line up of speakers and bird walks including other exhibitors and vendors. Visitors were very enthusiastic about the presence of the birds and asked very thoughtful and intelligent questions about our resident raptors.

Mr. Pepe, our red shouldered hawk is always a favorite of mine to take to events such as this one. The admiration by the bird enthusiasts was very well received by him. He is an outstanding educational ambassador and sits quietly while people take his picture and inspect him closely. Sadly, it is because he was raised by humans that he makes such an outstanding educational bird. He is not without fault however, and cannot be housed with other birds because of his dangerous aggression towards his own kind. He is also unpredictable with the wildlife staff at times because of his hormonal urges. Clearly, this bird belongs in the wild but cannot be released because of these behavioral issues.
Screech-o is an eastern screech owl. Also an imprint, he is unable to be released because of his behavioral inadequacies. He is also prone to show unhealthy aggression towards other screech owls. He is one of our most popular educational birds and the foundation of any good bird of prey program. He gives us a chance to show children and adults that birds come in all sizes and small doesn't always mean baby.