97 Minnesota has Abundant Wildlife 2 --- Raptors (eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, and vultures)

I, a Japanese, don't deny the fact that I didn't know the meaning of "Raptors" until I visited the Raptor Center ¹⁾ this past April. Have fun taking a look at our pix of "Raptors"! ("Raptors" Photos: < www.exploreamerica.info > Photo Gallery > Raptors / Release > Raptors)

"Raptors" are birds which live by feeding on other birds and/or animals. For example, eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, and vultures are raptors (Quiz 53)²⁾.

Since Minnesota (MN) has abundant wildlife (as mentioned in our Letter 95), there are wildlife-rehabilitation facilities. These rehab. facilities are where injured or sick animals are taken care of, such as the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center ³⁾ in Roseville, MN and the Raptor Center in St. Paul, MN. When people find injured or sick animals in the woods or streets, they can take them to a wildlife-rehabilitation center. The center will help the animals go back to the wild as often as they can. They will try to help heal the animal’s wounds or disease while trying to avoid being friendly with the animals. If the rehabilitation with an animal is done in this way, the animal will not get used to human contact, which could make reintroduction into the wild much more difficult. Once the animal becomes strong enough to go back to the wild (after rehabilitation), they will release it into the wild (See Photo examples: Photo Gallery > Raptors / Release > Spring Release). Note: Quite a few volunteers help at these wildlife-rehabilitation facilities.

If a bird has permanent damage and the center thinks that the bird won't be able to survive in the wild, the bird will become an educational bird at the center and will stay there for the rest of its life. The birds (raptors) that you can see in our photos are educational birds at the Raptor Center, U of Minnesota. Some of these birds have lost vision in one eye and some have permanent injuries to their wings or legs.

Note: We have spotted some real wild raptors as well (See bald eagles: Photo Gallery > USA & Minnesota Nature > Wild Animals > Birds > Bald Eagles) and we will be posting more pictures later.

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(1) Raptor Center, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN: < http://www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu/ >
(2) Q&A: Ops! Some people may recall "Raptors" in "Jurassic Park", the popular movie.
They were "Velociraptors", one type of dinosaur, but not birds which we described above. More story < http://www.kidzwerld.com/site/p803.htm >
(3) Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Roseville, MN: < http://www.wrcmn.org/wrcmn/public/ >

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