What Can We Learn from Birds of Prey?
When Paula and I spent last week visiting our son and daughter-in-law in Summerville, South Carolina, one of the things we did was visit the Center for Birds of Prey, and it was a tremendous experience. We saw bald eagles, turkey vultures, horned owls, storks, and many more, including a truly amazing flying demo with a hawk, an owl, a kite, and a vulture. The birds on permanent display have been injured and wouldn’t survive if returned to the wild. I could spend all week on a single bird and still not cover all we learned. To find out more, check out their website www.thecenterforbirdsofprey.org, and if you’re near Charleston, plan to visit. They do wonderful work rescuing birds of prey and nursing them back to health as well as breeding birds for other educational programs or to help save a species.
Paula asked a great question during the flight demonstration: do the birds in captivity get fat? The answer forms the basis for this week’s Memos. The answer is yes, of course. When a bird must fly for hours to find and catch food, it uses a lot of calories. If the birds can’t fly, they die in the wild. When the birds are in captivity, they can’t burn enough calories so if they eat as much as they want, they get fat.
Lesson? If you’re not moving regularly and every day, it’s really hard to control your weight. More on Thursday.
What are you prepared to do today?
