For those of you who have been with us on our various forays along the South Carolina coast you may recall our visit to the "Sewee Shell Ring" or the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge. As we traveled to those wonderful sites we were reminded that we were very close to the "Avian Conservation Center - Center For Birds Of Prey." Although time did not permit a visit during one of those earlier trips we vowed that we would go there as soon as we could. So, we set aside a day especially for a visit to the center and after breakfast headed South on Highway 17 toward Charleston. Along the way we passed the roads leading to some places we alluded to above - Winyah Bay Wildlife Preserve, Bull's Island, Cape Romain, McClellanville, Caper's Island and so many more. If you weren't along for those adventures we hope you will take the time to go back and look at some of the earlier postings to see just how incredibly beautiful and rewarding those visits were.
About twenty five miles North of Charleston lies the tiny fishing town of Awendaw. Interestingly, although it has remained small through the years, Awendaw was actually settled in 1696 by folks who left Massachusetts to avoid persecution during the Salem "Witch Trials." And - notwithstanding it's small size, the place is a veritable treasure trove of stuff to do. Although we don't have time to go into detail now, you really, really need to find out more about the Awendaw Bluegrass Festival, the Blue Crab Festival and Awendaw Green - THE place for bluegrass music - period. The wildlife opportunities alone make Awendaw one of our favorites, though, and after a wonderful "soul food" lunch at "Buckshot's Grill" on Highway 17, we turned onto Sewee Road and soon reached the entrance to the center.
As we have found before, the road into the center is a winding, unpaved lane that takes you through dense mixtures of pine, live oak, cedar, box elder, saw palmetto and many others. The center is housed on nearly sixty acres of coastal habitat that it shares with an incredible variety of creatures. In fact, as we were driving down the entrance we saw one of my favorites, a humongous wild turkey! It is a beautiful creature and seeing one in the wild, in full plumage, helps you understand why Benjamin Franklin wanted to make it our national bird.
We arrived at the center just in time for the beginning of the flight demonstrations
and, after getting our obligatory wrist bands, hustled over to the large outdoor demonstration site. There we were given a spectacular introduction to falcons, kites,
kestrels, gyres and hawks - all the while being watched from above by eagles, vultures and "non-resident" hawks. The staff and volunteers who conduct the tours, demonstrations and lectures are some of the most charming, attractive and engaging
young folks you will ever meet and they know their stuff!! Now a disclaimer .. I am not going to let my mouth (or fingers, as the case may be) get me in trouble by trying to do a presentation about these marvelous birds. I'll provide a little "color commentary" but for the "real story" I urge you to go to the website for the Center For Birds Of Prey." It is an outstanding site, complete with scientific info, videos and more. The demonstrations we saw were really amazing and showcased the spectacular flying and hunting skills of these warriors of the sky as well as the care
and training skills of their human partners. We then wandered over to "Owl Woods" for an introduction to the scores of owl species housed at the center. The incredibly beautiful "Eurasian Eagle-Owl" provided us with a demonstration of "stealth flight" the military can only wish for. While visiting the owls we also experienced a chance encounter with a very shy and skittish African Golden Eagle - a rare and delightful treat!! The center has a huge array of bird exhibits so, if you come, please give yourself at least 2 to 3 hours to see everything. We had a great time on this excursion and really hope you can make it to Awendaw if you are in the area. I promise you won't be sorry! We're going to close for now so we can get ready to visit another place with a funny name - Socastee! Come back and join us. See ya.
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