Tour de Raptor

The epic and insanely awesome Tour de Raptor happened over the April 19-21 weekend. You might be wondering what I'm talking about. I am talking about the Wolf Ridge wildlife crew doing a statewide tour of other places that used raptors and other animals for education. We visited two zoos, another RELC and the raptor center.

First up was the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth. It is a smaller zoo and runs as a non-profit. We met with their education staff (consisted of three people) and discussed their animals, programs, and working with other departments.

To the left is a screech owl, so tiny and adorable. 

To the right is a picture of a lynx, and they do also live in the wild in northern MN.

This zoo flooded last summer and is still recovering from that - the reason they knew the zoo flooded is there was a seal in the street.

We also discussed more about AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums  accreditation  because this zoo lost and regained theirs. Part of that is it used to be a city zoo and then switched to a private non-profit. AZA is an organization "dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation." They monitor enclosure regulations, education programs, as well as the captive populations and species specific conservation plans.  

 The next morning we visited the Raptor Center which is part of the University of Minnesota campus. It consists of a vet clinic, and to the right shows how many raptors they have seen this year, what's there right now, and how many they see each year. Birds that are seen are treated for injuries, sometimes they can be released and other times they cannot because of permanent injuries. The birds that can live a good life in captivity and have permanent injuries can become education animals. All of the raptors at Wolf Ridge came from the Raptor Center.

 The Raptor Center also has an education department and their own education raptors. They do programs on and off site, and have an education and conservation theme.

Here is a picture of a bald eagle transitioning from juvenile to adult plumage (head isn't completely white yet).

 Here is a turkey vulture sunning.

 Next up was the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, MN which is state run.

We explored the zoo which was very large compared to the Lake Superior Zoo.

Saw some bears playing in their pool...

... And a baby camel copying it's momma's every move.










But the real reason we went is the see the bird show. The bird show is independent of their education department and pretty incredible entertainment value.


We got a behind the scenes tour which was the best thing ever. They have a snowy owl (right) that flew during the program as well as...








...and eagle owl (left)which is the coolest and flew over us in the program. Eagle owls are the biggest of all owls and hang out in Russia.

We got to see them set up for the show which had them putting birds in the walls. The crates are built in the walls, and open with a push of a button when it's that bird's turn to fly. 

The show was about birds around the world and conservation efforts. After the show they let us hold one of their conures that flew to an audience member's hand during the show. 

We got to see their last weekend of the winter bird show which is held in an inside amphitheater but they also have a summer show in a gigantic outdoor amphitheater. The summer show has almost all different birds and we got to see the as well. To the right is a red-tail hawk that is more white than red :)

And a cool spectacled owl... who didn't really like us looking at him.

 The next day we hit up our last stop which was Audubon Center of the North Words, another residential environmental learning center. They have a number of raptors as well we checked out.

They also have a porcupine, but as you might be able to see in this picture no where near as cute as Thistle.