Last weekend I was in Ojai again to house/dog/bunny/fish-sit for my sister. My Mom was off at her 50 year high school reunion so my Dad and I decided to head over to Ojai Day on Saturday. Lots of booths in the park and downtown with food venders, people selling jewelry, paintings, pottery and other hand made items. Bands play throughout the day and there are also various organizations there to help the community and the environment.
The Ojai Raptor Center had a booth set up in the park and my Dad and I spent the better part of an hour talking to the volunteers, meeting these beautiful birds and of course, taking pictures. The Center rescues different species of raptors with the goal of returning them to the wild. Most of the time they are successful but in the cases of these educational birds (below) they were either too injured or had been imprinted to humans and would be unable to survive in the wild even though they are otherwise healthy - which is so sad.
Riley - Eastern Screech Owl
Bob - American Kestrel Imprinted to humans
Tito - Barn OwlHe is 4 years old and came to ORC with some head trauma, bi-lateral cataracts and both wings had improperly healed fractures.
Lucky - Red-Shouldered Hawk (Red tailed hawk is behind him)
Imprint - Non-releasable
Lucky's close-up
Hope you have enjoyed being introduced to these beautiful birds. They are incredible and so are the people who take care of them. It inspires me and gives me hope that people are out there doing this work, giving of themselves and their time. I miss volunteering and am feeling the need to get back to it, especially now.
Libby Park - downtown Ojai
If you are interested in more information about the Ojai Raptor Center, in donating or getting one of their awesome t-shirts or calenders you can go to ojairaptorcenter.org
"Unselfish and noble actions
are the most radiant pages
in the biography of souls."
~David Thomas
