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Hi. This is Naomi and I am Head Raptor Keeper at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Each day we perform two Birds of Prey (Raptor) free-flight shows. So what is a Raptor? Those birds of prey that use their feet to catch their prey. The word raptor is derived from the Latin word 'rapere' meaning to seize. So we use the term raptor to generally describe eagles, hawks, falcons and the nocturnal owls. And boy they really do have powerful feet.
If you come along to our bird of prey show you will meet some wonderful characters. We have Omega, one of our Wedge-tailed Eagles, Bo, Schnapps & Baileys our triplet Barking Owls and Illuka our amazing White-bellied sea-eagle. That's just to name a few!
There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes for a bird of prey show at a zoo. Keep posted on this blog to find out stories about our birds, interesting things that happen during our training and you too may come to love these enigmatic raptors the way we do.
Let me start by telling a story about the day when I arrived ready to start the show and upon opening up one of our hide boxes where the birds wait during the show, I was faced with a wild brush-tailed possum occupying the box. Being the capable zookeeper that I am, I thought I could easily wrangle the possum out of the box and successfully place him in a nearby tree. So in front of all the people gathering to watch the show I grabbed the possum by the tail and the scruff of the neck and turned around to show everyone how 'brave' I was. It was then the possum slipped my grip and bit my arm before running up my back and jumping off my head. Scratched, bleeding and hoping my scrap with the possum would not end up on you-tube, I gave the presentation to grinning visitors and rushed to get first aid after the show.
By the way, Illuka is a beautiful Aboriginal word that means 'near the sea' - have a look at a photo of Illuka attached. |
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