Alaska Raptor Center

The Raptor Center is way cool. The folks there bring in birds of prey that are injured, treat them, and train them to return to the wild. At left is a permanent resident of the Center and below is a temporary one. It's just an amazing place. Birds that cannot be returned to the wild are sent to zoos in "the south" (the lower 48); they also are taken to schools throughout the US to talk about raptor preservation.

We learned early in our vacation that bald eagles in Alaska are kind of as common as crows (not quite, but there are a lot). They were never endangered in Alaska because there is so little agrculture (no DDT). So Alaska is the supply center for bald eagles everywhere. And they are giant birds. Something like two feet high with a seven foot wong span. It's just so strange to see such huge beasts flying around.