World Center for Birds of Prey.

Thursday is the first full day of the rally and our first activity is a trip to the World Center for Birds of Prey.
I really did not know what to expect and when I looked it up on the web this is what I found:
"The center’s research facilities are designed to enhance the health, reproduction, and reintroduction efforts of endangered species and to collect information about the general biology of raptors. The science is focused on understanding how diet, aging, and environment affect the health, growth, reproduction and lifespan of the birds. The organization’s propagation program played a critical role in the successful recovery of the Peregrine Falcon, which was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999.
The organization currently breeds endangered California Condors and Aplomado Falcons at the World Center for Birds of Prey. The condors are released to the wild in northern Arizona; Aplomado Falcon chicks are released to the wild in Texas and New Mexico."

Well I was in for a pleasant surprise. This place was responsible for the fact that the Peregrine falcon is no longer an endangered species. Because of that success they have been asked to see if they could do the same thing for the condor. They are having great success. The last time Ken and I were at the Grand Canyon we saw some of these condors in the wild.
We were given a grand tour of the facility and our guide was amazing.
We met Lucy, the turkey vulture, and we saw California condors up close and we learned so much about raptors..

This is a place where I could have very easily spent an entire day. There was so much to see and so much to experience.