Spencer Crow

Professor Connie Douglas

UWRT
November 11, 2014

Observation
The Renaissance Festival was a very interesting place to visit. People were dressed in all kinds
of various costumes; such as, pirates, knights, and just clothing from that time period. There were girls
dressed as fairies sitting around blowing bubbles and welcoming small children whose faces would
light up in amazement and various performances going on through out the place. There were balancing
acts, juggling, fire shows, jousting, sword swallowing, and The observer's personal favorite, the
falconry show.
The falconry show was especially interesting. The man brought out an owl, vulture, raven,
falcon, and a pair of hawks. The birds would fly out over the crowd and land on perches in the back,
then fly back over everyone to the stage. The birds would fly really low to the crowd, just inches over
viewers' heads and people would get excited and yell sometimes because the birds would come so
close. The man asked that all people would hide their food because sometimes the birds would swipe it
on the way by. While the birds were flying back and forth and the people were observing them, the
man was on stage giving information about each bird. He would explain things like how they catch
their food and special things about them. For example, owls can fly silently because of their distinctive
wings and the falcon is the fastest animal on earth. The trainer used a tool that was a ball on a leather
string that had food in it and he would sling it around while the falcon it chased to help show off some

of the falcon's speed skills.

During this show the observer also observed the people sitting around him. There were some
older women beside him and one said her hand was hurting so one of the other women got out a
cigarette and broke the tobacco up in her hand and handed it to the woman and said you'll have to spit
in it and laughed. He also observed a child that sat right in front of the stage and just ate his turkey leg
and never wrapped it up or put it away or made an effort to hide it, and his parent's did not say anything
to him about it. Most people sitting around were very intrigued with the show and what was going on.
The crowd continued to grow and half way through the show it had gained a numerous amount of
people standing in the back around the seats.
The show was starting to come to an end when he brought out the last bird, the raven. The man
began to explain why people need to donate money to help these birds and other birds survive. He then
showed the crowd a trick the raven could do. He would hand the raven a dollar and the bird would take
it and put it inside a box and at the end of the show people could go up to the front and give the raven
money. It was a good show with lots of interesting facts about birds of prey.

Secondary Research
As the researcher observed the bird show he couldnt help but wonder the significance of these
birds in their natural environment. Birds of prey are also known as raptors and they play a huge role in
the environment along with scavengers; such as, vultures and ravens. Birds of prey are predators at the
top of the food chain because pesticides, drought and habitat loss have the most dramatic impact on top
predators, we refer to them as indicator species. The raptors also play an important ecological role by
controlling populations of rodents and other small mammals. These birds have powerful claws that help

them grab and kill their prey and a sharp curved beak for tearing into the skin and meat. They also have
very keen eyesight so that they are able to spot their prey from a great distance. Most raptors can kill
prey twice their size but can fly off with it.
One of his favorite raptors to observe was the owl. Owls are beautiful birds that are nocturnal,
or come out and feed at night. Owls have a very keen sense of hearing. Even if they can not see the
prey they can still hear it and pin point the location with accuracy. The owl can hear mice and other
rodents under inches of snow and catch them without ever seeing them. They are also able to sneak up
on their prey because they can fly silently. Owls have extremely soft feathers under and around their
wings allowing them to fly without make hardly any noise. Owls are truly magnificent creatures that
are important to the environment. During its ten year lifespan an owl eats around 798 pounds of mice,
which is about 12,775 individual mice one owl will eat.
Another very important bird the researcher observed is the vulture. Scavengers; such as,
vultures play a huge role in the environment. These birds clean up died animals that would others wise
sit and rot growing harmful bacteria that could hurt the environment but these bacterias will not harm
vultures. Vultures have bare heads and often bare necks so that when they feed on rotting carcasses,
bacteria and other parasites cannot burrow into their feathers to cause infections. This allows the birds
to stay healthier while feeding on material that would easily infect other animals. A vultures stomach
acid is also significantly stronger and more corrosive than that of other animals or birds. This allows
these scavengers to feed on rotting carcasses that may be infected with dangerous bacteria, because
their stomach acid will kill that bacteria it does not threaten the vulture. The vulture can take in all
kinds of nasty bacteria and when it comes back out, its waste is sterile because of their stomach acid, so
these birds are taking deadly bacteria out of the environment.

Birds of prey are extremely important to the ecosystem. People need to know about these birds
and what they do for everyone so that they are not taken for granted. It makes sense for shows to be
held about these creature to honor them and inform others. Without these birds the world would be over
ran with rodents and covered with disease. The researcher did not notice how important these birds
were while observing them but he is glad he got to see a small sample of what they are capable of.

Work Cited
Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 285,1 December 2012,Pages 213-226Joan C. Hagar, Judith
Li, Janel Sobota, Stephanie Jenkins
Zoology,Volume 117, Issue 4,August 2014,Pages 253-260
Karen L. Sweazea, John P. McMurtry, Ruth M. Elsey, Patrick Redig, Eldon J. Braun
Animal Behaviour,Volume 96,October 2014,Pages 31-38,Geir A. Sonerud, Ronny Steen, Line M. Lw,
Line T. Red, Kristin Skar, Vidar Sels, Tore Slagsvold
Animal Behaviour,Volume 74, Issue 5,November 2007,Pages 1249-1258Hannah M. Rowland, Michael
P. Speed, Graeme D. Ruxton, Malcolm Edmunds, Martin Stevens, Ian. F. Harvey
Science of The Total Environment,Volume 291, Issues 13,27 May 2002,Pages 59-71D. Herzke, R.
Kallenborn, T. Nygrd