Vogelschau

A mere 30 minutes from our house is a Wildpark, which, although pronounced differently in German, is exactly what it sounds like to English speakers.  While my parents were here I really wanted to take them to this place because my dad used to train hawks and falcons when he was young.  The Wildpark in Potzberg has a Vogelschau, AKA a bird show.

First off, there is a fenced in area with mommy and baby goats.  You can go in at your leisure and pet them.  Some of the goats were uber friendly and others were shy.  Judah was a little nervous with them, but Hannah (normally not a fan of most animals that poop, that eliminates a lot, right?) really enjoyed them.

The park had many more animals to look at and many more that you could feed or pet.

Isaac petting the donkey

Judah just being silly now that he was safe on the other side of a fence from the animals.  This is in front of the bunnies and guinea pigs.

Bobby got to see his favorite animal, the ducks.  One was right there perched on the fence.

Judah cautiously approaching a bunny that had gotten loose, but it's running away.

Time for the show at 3pm (everyday between March and October).   The show is at the edge of a crazy cliff with wooden benches.  There were two perches up high and the handler brought out a bunch of eagles, two of which were bald eagles named Obama and Air Force One.  A lady talked about the birds while the handler threw dead baby chicks up in the air for the birds to swoop down and catch.  The eagles would fly right over people's heads and land on a high perch or right on the back of a wooden bench.

Waiting for the show to start

Handler with a bald eagle

Landed right next to Genevieve. She got some good pictures.

The handler eventually called the birds in one at a time and chained them up to a tree stump.  One eagle was pushing his boundaries a bit and didn't come when he was summoned.  They went to get other handlers to try to coax him in with other goodies.  Then the handler brought out a huge group of falcons.  Same routine with throwing dead baby chicks, but they were much faster and daring than the eagles had been.  They also flew right over our heads, making many of the Germans visibly nervous.  The falcons missed a couple of the baby chicks that had been flung into the air, usually since there were two birds going for it at the same time.  Chick brains fell onto Isaac's pants, and a baby chick fell right next to an open purse. It was a show to remember!

Afterwards, Genna took Judah up to pet the owls.  The owl handler lowers the owl on his arm face toward Judah and Judah got scratched by the beak when it tried to bite him.  I wasn't close enough to warn him about reaching out in front of a bird's face, but I saw it happening.  I asked Genevieve not to take him to pet animals without me so this kind of the thing won't happen again.  However, the owl handler should've known not to present the bird like that.

A White Stag

Then we went looking for the rest of the animals on the loop.  We found mostly deer and moose.  Everyone had a really great time, and I have been asked many times, "When can we go back?"

Moose