Thursday, May 12, 2011

Day #144/175 Days - Field Trip

Today we headed to one of our very favorite places to visit - the Maine Wildlife Park. I had scheduled a local group to go down and participate in a class. Then we were free to explore the park. Our class was called "Meet a Live Bald Eagle."

Before we got to do that though, our educator gave the children a background in different birds of prey and eagles in particular. She focused on why they were endangered and how the population in Maine was brought back. Basically eggs were stolen from nests in Alaska and placed under birds here in Maine. This was all sanctioned and paid for by the US Government. It worked as we've occasionally sited eagles locally and more and more are making their way to our great state.

The cardboard shows how big the eagles wingspan is - that's big!

She's holding a film canister. An eagle can spot something this small from about 
five miles away.

Yeah - really only a face a mother could love.

And Lawrence is on his way!


Lawrence was feeling a bit feisty today and they had a hard time convincing him to come visit with us. He is a permanent resident of the Park and is used for educational purposes. When he was just a nestling he was blown from the nest during a storm. He was found a few days later on the ground by a Ranger. Due to damage sustained in the fall, he had half of one wing amputated. Needless to say he can't fly and is unable to survive in the wild. 

He gets free food though at the Park.

One of my favorite photos I snapped during the class.

After lunch we headed out to explore the Park. We had along with us this time a friend who hadn't been in a very long time so it was nice to share some of our favorite things with them. Of course, no trip to the Maine Wildlife Park would be complete without photos like these....




He's such a ham.

I love how the legs are sticking out. 

Humoring me with a group photo

This guy was there all day working on this statue. 
There were some baby bears already completed nearby.


Lego-Man has just been measured for height. 
We discovered he is about 5'9" tall! Yikes!

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