Annual Picnic

We had a great gathering at the Annual Picnic on Saturday.  About two dozen people attended and shared dishes like baked corn, pasta salads, home-baked bread and angel food cake.  Yummy.  We grilled hot dogs and shared good conversations on the lawn.

The evening's speakers were Kathy and Eric Uhler from the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and they had a special treat for us.  They released a young Red-tailed Hawk back into the wild, while eveyone watched.  It perched at the edge of the yard and everyone was able to watch it through the binoculars.  It could be seen hanging around the yard into Sunday, but evenutally flew off to find its own territory.

Then we moved into the Nature Center for the program.  Kathy and Eric use animals that cannot be released back into the wild.  While talking about each animal, they educate the audience about what and (what not to do) when you encounter an injured or abandoned animal.  One of my favorites was a raven that was imprinted on humans.  It cannot be released into the wild because it has no fear of humans.  Its plummage was stunning under the lights, I can only imagine how magnificent it would look in the sunlight.  They brought several animals including a (descented) skunk, barred owl and this peregrine falcon.  It was a very informative program, and people really enjoyed watching the wildlife up close.