Sitka Eagle Rescue

Leslie Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sunshine and calm weather. We’re happy campers. Today the weather started cloudy but eventually became just beautiful. Temperatures were in the mid 50s,chances of rain (always). We wanted to explore the critical tourist sites while the weather was good.

First we went to the Sitka National Historic Park. It is the oldest national historic park in Alaska. There is a 1 mile hike of totem poles mostly donated by the native villages to the St Louis Exposition in 1904. We walked the totem pole route and enjoyed the time in the outdoors.

Next, we went to the Sheldon Jackson Museum. The museum was started in1890 by Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian missionary and teacher who saw the value in preserving the native cultures. The museum was really interesting. It was amazing how many materials he had accumulated. He saw the value in documenting the native cultures that his education and missionary work was attempting to change. We both commented that if the collection was at the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC, it would have been spread over several floors. It was housed in one small room. Beneath the display cases they had drawers that contained additional materials. We were most impressed with the weaving techniques of the Tlingit. They created woven bowls that were waterproof. The hunting and carving techniques were also impressive – all done with stone tools. There was also an interesting collection of children’s toys and clothing.

The most impressive visit for the day was the Alaskan Raptor Center. The Raptor Center rescues injured eagles and hawks and tries to rehabilitate them to return to the wild. We observed the Raptor Flight Training Center where they teach the birds how to fly in anticipation of a return to the wild. They also have individual enclosures of eagles and other birds who are permanent residents, unable to ever return to the wild (mostly because of the nature of their injuries). We were spoiled with a private tour of the center by a rescue worker. I’ll let you enjoy some of the wonderful pictures I captured of the rescued birds:

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And for our friend Jay who really likes eagles, here is Eagle One:

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Loudly, these eagles speak wonders. The eagle who appears to be screaming was yelling at a couple of approaching ravens. Throughout the southeast of Alaska we’ve seen many, many eagles and ravens. Because we’ve mostly been camped along the shore, we have been able ot watch the birds of prey fishing in the shallow waters. When we’ve driven along the road near the coast, we’ve seen eagles and raven soaring overhead.

And a red-tailed hawk.

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