Bald Eagle Day 2010

My husband and I recently attended an annual birding event, Bald Eagle Day 2010. It is held at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival each January. I had wanted to get there earlier than we did, but we ended up getting there around 12:30pm. They had scheduled events from 10am-4:30pm. We had already missed some great things, so next year we will have to get there at 10am.

We went inside the tent where they had ample information on all sorts of birding things, for instance, the Idaho Bird Observatory and the Golden Eagle Audubon Society; our local chapter of the Audubon. (see my photo on their January 2010 newsletter) It was fun to see Heidi, whom we met during fall migration, working the IBO booth. They had educational activities for children as well, like color sheets, information, a check off sheet with 100 things to do outdoors, stickers and the like.

There were falconers located in different areas on the grounds holding various birds of prey. It was a great opportunity to learn about each of these birds as well as about how they are taken care of by their falconers.

There were the American Kestrel, a Short eared owl, a Great Horned owl, a Gyrfalcon, a Peregrine falcon and a young Red-tailed hawk. I was able to get several nice close-up photographs of these gorgeous birds.

Great Horned Owl

Immature Red-tailed Hawk

Peregrine Falcon

American Kestrel (female)

See more in my Raptor Gallery.

We walked along the path that borders the Barber Pool Conservation Area in search of the Bald Eagles that nest in the cottonwoods nearby at this time of the year. We did see one through one of the spotting scopes they had set up, but it was not close enough for me to get a shot.

We did see some Canadian Geese swimming by. You can see more images of this area HERE.

The highlight of the day for me, was the 1 hour lecture where we went to an indoor venue. We had run into fellow Christian birder, Val Lee, and we sat together as we were awed by the up close and personal experience of the birds shown to us by Jane Fink Cantwell of Birds of Prey Northwest. These birds were all injured or otherwise imprinted by humans and could not be returned to the wild. We saw, a pair of American Kestrels, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Swainson's Hawk, a Great Horned Owl and finally, Liberty...the female Bald Eagle. Boy, was she ever impressive! Jane had a gentle way about her, but you knew she meant business when she said to that it was very important we all sit very still and quiet and sadly, we could not take pictures in this setting. Even the children did a great job of controlling themselves.

I'm looking forward to attending this event again next year. If you'd like to go, you can watch for updates on next year's event HERE.