I found a place!

Last week, after I was bummed because volunteering in the local zoos wasn't possible, I found a Raptor Center (Birds of Prey) Park where I can volunteer!

I have to take a train for about an hour in order to get to the small town of Staarburg, Germany. Once there it is about a half an hour walk, or 10 minutes by car, to get to the "Greifvogel Park" (Raptor Park) which two 30-something men run with the weekend help of a 13 year old girl named Janina and now occasionally me.

I went there on Thursday and saw the grounds, which is on a mountain. At the base of the mountain is a restaurant, the home of one of the men who own the place, and a myriad of animals including ferrets, a pony, two donkeys, chickens and ducks (which have to be locked up due to the Bird Flu, which has reached Germany but not this far south), a couple of pigs, some racoons, some pigeons (yes pigeons), and maybe another animal I'm missing.

When you go up the mountian you find the stage for their twice daily Bird Shows (11 am and 3 pm), and the home of a variety of birds - including falcons, hawks, two American bald eagles, a snow owl (like on Harry Potter), two other owls and a couple of more.

I got to help feed all of the animals during the day, eat a good lunch (they can't pay me but they can feed me!), and help out with their afternoon show...which was really only a show for me because no one else showed up. I got to have one bird come to me on my leather gloved hand, which went good overall. Then we brought out one of the bald eagles. Both the eagles are young still... one is 2 years old and one is 3 years old. Neither have the white feathers on their heads yet, but they are HUGE (wing spans bigger than me!) and gorgeous. The first eagle was the younger and gentler one. Then we brought out the second one who is a bit more aggressive. And I got to have him come to me on my gloved arm. They showed me what to do, and how to call him. The first time I tried the bird decided, "uh... sorry, but I don't go to someone I don't know" and just landed on the ground next to me. The second time it worked, but I was a bit nervous, and he was heavier than I was expecting. So I turned, like I should, after catching him to "throw" him back out (make him fly away) except in the process I threw the glove I had on too. Oops.

But it was awesome. I've never had an eagle (or any other such bird) so close. I'd love to go help everyday there, but unfortunately I can't afford the train ticket everyday. So I'm going again on Thursday of this week to help. It'll be great.