The National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA puts on a free flight bird show called “FlightZone” out in the Rose Garden twice a day from Wednesday through Sunday during the Summer up until October 18th. During the show, a multitude of different birds swoop out of nowhere and fly right over your head and land on different perches in the Rose Garden while the two trainers give you background on the birds and their many talents.
One of my favorites was the Eurasian Eagle Owl, the world’s largest species of Owl. He appears on one of the hedge rows to the right of the seating area and one of the trainers places a piece of meat on a perch on the other end of the rose garden and the owl flies across and up to the perch and grabs the meat before flying back out of sight. I had a bit too much lens on this shot, not knowing what to expect but I still like the positioning I captured as he reaches out to the perch and the meat found there. I shot this on Sunday afternoon 8-23-2009. The Aviary is a ten hour round trip drive for me but I’ve never regretted a minute of it.
You can read more about the Eurasian Eagle Owl on this page.
For more information on the National Aviary and how you can help support this great oasis for birds please visit www.aviary.org. For more information on the FlightZone program at the Aviary, visit this page.
