Birds of Prey

Liam has shown a big interest in peregrine falcons lately so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity for him to see his first one in person when they had a free kids day at the Birds of Prey Center a few Saturdays ago! It was up in the lower foothills so we even got to see some snow while we were there. Birds are always the hardest to see whenever we got to the zoo but these cages were so open (not a lot of fluff inside) and well lit making every bird really visible. They still didn't move around much but even Lyla was interested in looking at them. Here is their beautiful peregrine falcon and Liam's favorite part of the whole morning ... 

They offered a brief show and tell of a couple of owls they have there. I think I have close to 1,000 pictures of these two owls that Liam took with my phone. He's a pretty great little photographer, don't you think?!. ;)

It is mostly elderly volunteers that work there and they all look so jovial and fascinated with these birds. This particular guy told us about the owls' diet, habitat, facts about its body, etc. and then opened it up to the audience for questions. He mentioned they do flight shows with the peregrine falcon in the fall. We're already picking a weekend to go!

After the demonstration they had several kid friendly rooms where they could touch and feel pretend eggs, look at feathers under microscopes, and even try on their very own bird costume. How cute is my peregrine falcon?! ;)

With our friends, all the kids got to make their own binoculars. My creative one took matters into his own hands and stacked his toilet paper rolls on top of each other to make a telescope.  

Lyla testing out her binoculars on the bald eagle. ;) She looked like a mini Dora the Explorer!

After touring the place all morning the kids were tuckered out. Lyla woke up particularly early that morning and just couldn't quite make it to bed time without a nap in my arms. I wasn't complaining one bit!