Our Southern Alberta Adventures keep expanding – like discovering the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre! Join us for an amazing hour and a half of watching a red-tailed hawk flying demonstration, holding a burrowing owl, visiting the rescued birds of prey aviary, and wandering the wetlands.
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Discovering the Birds of Prey Centre
I’ve known about the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre for years, but we’ve never had the opportunity to stop in. This time it was meant to be! We were on our way to the put-in point for our Oldman River paddle trip when the centre’s sign caught our attention. We all agreed to stop when we came back to pick up the shuttle vehicle. After picking up the truck left at the put-in it was mid-afternoon. We still had enough time to check it the Birds of Prey Centre. And besides, this trip was for the birds!
Did You Know?
- There are 21 common birds of prey species found in Alberta.
- A ‘bird of prey’ is a bird that hunts for their food, eats meat, has a hooked beak and seizes and kills their prey with their talons (sharp claws on their feet).
- Birds of prey are also known as raptors. The name raptor comes from the Latin word raptare, which means to seize or grasp.
- The Alberta Birds of Prey Centre is largest birds of prey facility in Canada.
Let the Adventures Begin!
Our Southern Alberta adventures keep expanding! As it turns out, our timing could not have been better. After buying admission, the girl noted that the next hawk flight demonstration was at 3 p.m. We had exactly two minutes to wander down to the end of the red shale path to the benches for the demo!
Delta, a 5-year-old red-tailed hawk, was the star of the show. She entered the demonstration area with her handler and took up her perch. Chunks of chicken are in the handler’s satchel. They are rewards. The hawk knows it will get another piece of chicken if it flies from this handler to the one across the field.
The birds are free to fly away. In fact, Delta exercised her freedom of choice as she opted to land on the Fortis demo poles instead of her perch after the first flight. Luckily, she knows that the chicken meal she gets here is the easiest meal ever!
Up Close & Personal with an Owl
Wandering down the hawk walk path, we ended up in the owl enclosure. There were great horned owls like George hiding behind a sign. Pancake – another great horned – looked downright grumpy.
And then there was Sage – a one-year-old burrowing owl.
“Want to hold her?” her handler asked.
How could I refuse?
She sat patiently as I followed the handler’s instructions with my arm outstretched. Her head pointed away. She settled in on my fist as I bent my elbow and brought her closer. And then – for a moment – she turned her head to look straight in my eyes.
My heart melted.
Touring the Alberta Bird of Prey Centre’s Aviaries
Beyond the owl, hawk and eagle enclosures, there are additional aviaries a little off the beaten path. The centre has several missions, one of the most important being to rehabilitate and release injured birds of prey back into the wild.
Unfortunately, not all birds are well enough to be released. In these cases, the birds are given homes in the display aviaries. Here they become living stories of the plight of many birds of prey. They help increase visitors’ environmental awareness. Sometimes these birds become foster parents for wild orphans brought into the Birds of Prey Centre – silver lining to a sad story.
The first enclosure was a bit of a surprise – holding a pair of ravens. Definitely not birds of prey! The sign reads: We were rescued by a caring individual, but now are too tame to be released back into the wild. Now we are cared for here! P.S. We are friendly, but we do bite. Please keep little fingers outside cage.
While they didn’t bite, they sure did talk a lot. Claudette and I left the guys behind to visit the kestrels and prairie falcons. We were fortunate enough to see a healthy prairie falcon flying freely above the river on our paddle trip.
Exploring the Grounds
We wandered past enclosures with great grey owls, snowy owls, saw whet owls, long-eared owls, Swainson’s hawks, broad-winged hawks, and a lone ferruginous hawk with an injured wing.
Each bird had a story, and each step brought an increased level of understanding about the hazards facing these magnificent birds. It’s hard not to care about their well-being after this experience.
Admission fees support running the facility and wildlife conservation efforts. The centre doesn’t receive any government operating subsidies. Randy put a little extra cash in their donation box on the way out.
History of Alberta’s Birds of Prey Centre
When we walked around the beautifully shaded and carefully planned out connecting pathways, it was hard to imagine that just over three decades ago we would be standing in a marginally productive cultivated field.
This site was originally a prairie wetland. Farmers drained it for agricultural production. It still flooded regularly. The Town of Coaldale designated the area for storm water retention. Someone had the foresight to reclaim the original wetland, provide land to house a birds of prey rescue facility and offer a wildlife education facility and tourist attraction in addition to meeting the needs of storm water retention.
It was a win on all counts!
1982
Centre founders Wendy Slaytor & Colin Weir approached the Province of Alberta Fish & Wildlife Division to start Alberta’s 1st volunteer wildlife rescue facility.
1984-1990
Wendy & Colin started work at their own expense rehabilitating injured birds. Birds that could not be released were used in public environmental education programs.
1989
Construction began for the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre at the reclaimed wetland property.
1991-2007
New buildings and aviaries constructed. The 28,000 square foot circular enclosure for injured eagles was built in 1997. At the time, it was the largest of its kind in North America!
2022
Recovering from Covid closures and wide open for visitors.
When You Go
The Alberta Birds of Prey Centre is located at 2124 16th Ave, Coaldale, AB in the Canadian Badlands.
The centre is open every day from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the summer season until early September. Admission $14/adult, $12/age 60 & over, $9.50/age 6-18, $6.00/age 3-5.
RV travelers will want to check out the nearby Owl’s Nest Campground for an overnight stay.
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