Rivers and rails part 4: World Bird Sanctuary....

Still in St. Louis....directly across from the elk park is the World Bird Sanctuary. This is a very nice place dedicated to trying to save and rehabilitate raptors and other birds. The ones that can't be returned to the wild are cared for and used for educational purposes. I hope you will click on their site link above. There is information on each of their birds and you have the possibility of "adopting" one to help feed it. The stories of how each one came to the park are really interesting. The building behind this eagle carving is the hospital building and you can look through a window inside.....but not good for photos :-)
This is "Tigger"....a Tawny Owl. He came to the sanctuary in 1992. He was injured as a chick and deemed unreleasable. Isn't he just the cutest little owl? I fell in love with this little guy.

He kept turning his head away. The guy holding him said he was hit by a car.

What a face. I'm sure I will never see something like this in the wild. I don't like to see birds in captivity, but it is nice to know that there are places like this that care for birds that can't survive on their own. He was in an "open" type exhibit, but attached to a perch.

You can see that the kids here are enjoying learning about these birds and seeing them up close.

This Red-Tailed Hawk is an old bird.

Seeing them up-close like this is a treat for a change....instead of perched on a wire high above my head.

So beautiful! I'll remember these the next time I'm watching them in the wild.

I didn't note the name of this dark hawk.

Look at that face!

They have several eagles there....both Bald and Golden. Some mate and produce young regularly.

A gorgeous pair.

This is Mariah....a Golden Eagle.

Mariah's story.

Peregrine Falcon. One of the falcons, Sirrocco, used to work for the Air Force according to the story posted on the web site. He was used to deter other birds from hanging around the air fields, preventing plane/bird collisions! He was injured flying into a fence and eventually retired from service work.

Such beautiful birds....all of them.

There were lots of cages of lots of birds and we didn't look at all of them. There are birds from all around the world and not all raptors. I saw Pelicans, Kookaburra, cranes....don't remember what else.

Feeding time....yum!