Birds of a feather

On Monday 11 November the Bush Ranger cadets were treated to a visit from The WA Birds of Prey Centre. It was an exciting and informative way to be up close and personal with some of WA's top predators.

The session started out with an educational talk about the different types of birds of prey found in WA before the stars of the show were brought out. The presentation not only allowed students to see a variety of birds up close, but also covered how to identify birds of prey, learn about their diet and where they can be found in Australia. It also gave the students an insight on how unique these birds are, what role they play in our environment and how susceptible they are to human activity.

The presentation was followed by two very different activities.  First the cadets were given a great opportunity to get up close and personal with a couple of the birds. The brave amongst us were able to put on a thick leather glove and then hold the Wedge-tailed Eagle and Brown Falcon on their arm. The students were thrilled to have the opportunity but it appeared Mrs Gillett and Mrs English, who had stopped by to give out awards to the cadets that participated in the Water Corp Think Tank Challenge, were even more excited.

The second activity was a hands on task that had the cadets pulling apart the undigested material the bird coughed back up.  Though this sounds disgusting, most of the students loved it. It was interesting watching them digging through the very smelly material for animal bones.  Some cadets attempted to put the bones back together to reassemble the skeletons whereas others decided to lay them out and catalogue them.  Either way it was an activity they will not be forgetting quickly.

For the next few weeks the Bush Rangers will start preparing for our final camp of 2019, which is to Busselton, Monday to Thursday of week 10.  It's going to be an awesome way to finish up the year.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•