They're Not Really Bald

One of the places we visited while in Sitka, Alaska was the Alaska Raptor Center.

At this facility, they rehabilitate birds that have sustained injury.  Their main patients seem to be bald eagles, but they will take in all kinds of birds that need help.

This was taken from Wikipedia:

"The Alaska Raptor Center is a raptor rehabilitation center in Sitka in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located on a 17–acre campus bordering the Tongass National Forest and the Indian River. The mission of the Alaska Raptor Center is to promote and enhance wild populations of raptors and other avian species through rehabilitation, education, and research. Although the main patients are raptors, especially bald eagles, the center will take any bird in need of care. The Alaska Raptor Center receives between 100–200 birds a year, with many suffering from some sort of trauma. They have treated birds with injuries from electrocution, collisions, gunshot wounds, leg hold traps, starvation, disease, and lead poisoning.

Many of their patients come from outside of Sitka and are flown in via Alaska Airlines or smaller regional airlines. The birds travel in dog kennels that have been covered to block out light. This helps to keep the birds calm when traveling. When an eagle is healthy enough, they will be moved into the Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation Bald Eagle Flight Training Center. This is a large indoor area where they are able to fly, bathe, and interact with other eagles until it is time for them to be released. Birds that are no longer able to live outside of human care are placed in zoos or wildlife centers throughout the United States to serve as ambassadors for their species.

Some of the birds that sustained injuries that did not allow them to be released have found a permanent home at the Alaska Raptor Center. More than 100,000 visitors annually come to see the two dozen resident eagles, hawks, owls, falcons, and ravens, who assist in the center's secondary function, public education. The most well-known resident is Volta, a bald eagle who suffered permanent shoulder damage after a 1992 collision with power lines. Volta retired from doing on-glove education programs in 2020 and lived in the Bald Eagle Habitat off the back deck of the Raptor Center. In January of 2024, Volta was humanly euthanized due to failing health and a reduced quality of life. He was at least 37 years old in 2024, possibly older."

Seeing these birds - especially the bald eagles - up close, was pretty amazing.  They had a few hawks (two of which we have in our yard regularly), and a beautiful snowy white owl, but the eagles were really something else.  They are much bigger than I expected and they are not held in an enclosed cage because they're injured and can't fly away anyway.  And they have few natural predators - humans are actually the biggest threat to bald eagles - so there's no real fear of them being attacked or further injured.

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2023: Sorry, no post on this day
2022: It's All About The Eyebrows
2021: Sorry, no post on this day
2020: Sorry, no post on this day
2019: Sorry, no post on this day
2018: Medieval Gateway To Luxury
2017: Talking To The Toms
2016: Hand Truckin'
2015: Zero Tolerance
2014: Twenty Minutes On The Water
2013: 1960s First Aid
2012: Far From The Soaking Of The East
2011: Inspired
2010: Lucky To Be A Woman
2009: I Feel Like A Thief
2008: Emulating The Brazilian Bombshell
2007: HMMWVs
2006: She’s Still Learning
2005: Woof