Carolina Raptor Center

Today Joel's parents and I took the kids to the Carolina Raptor Center on the grounds of Latta Plantation. The weather was great -- sunny and in the mid 70s -- and we had a great time walking around and looking at the different birds. We attended a half hour presentation where we got to learn about some of the different birds and view them up close. Rebecca was just as interested in the birds as Ben was, which took me by surprise since I had originally conceived of the visit to the raptor center as mainly for Ben's enjoyment since (in addition to dogs) he also has a particular interest in birds of prey.

We learned a lot of interesting things, such as:

1. A red tailed hawk can see a mouse from 100 feet in the air;
2. If a human's eyes were the same size in proportion to it's head as an owl's, our eyes would be the size of softballs;
3. Certain species of vultures will vomit when threatened and urinate on themselves to cool off.

That last one -- after the terminology was explained -- had Ben in hysterics.

We also visited the gift shop, which had some interesting items including pads of paper made from recycled elephant poop.

I accidentally left my camera at home, which was a shame because in addition to lots of cool birds I would have liked to photograph, Rebecca was wearing a cute dress today. Oh well.