Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Boise, ID and the Peregrine Fund World Center for Birds of Prey, September 15th to 19th.

Here we are in Boise where we have an appointment with the Mercedes dealer to get some warranty work done on the Sprinter. We will spend four days here and find plenty of things to do.

The Boise Green Belt Bike Path

We’re staying at the Meridian/Boise KOA and spend the first afternoon doing a 36-mile bike ride on the Boise Green Belt Bike Path. This beautiful paved path runs along the Boise River. Although it runs through the center of the city the green belt lends a natural and relaxing setting as it curves through the trees along the river. It passes by office buildings and condos in a few places and goes through tunnels under the city streets so users don’t have to encounter traffic. The trail is most congested in the downtown area. Families, joggers, walkers and office workers out for walk at lunch are on the path. It’s another example of what a great city can do to offer a high quality of life to its community.

The World Center for Birds of Pray operated by The Peregrine Fund.

The grounds of the World Center. Stroll around and enjoy the birds.

On the 2^nd day we visit the Peregrine Fund World Center for Birds of Prey. The Peregrine Fund was a major player in the recovery of the Peregrine Falcon and continues to help with the recovery of birds of prey around the world. In the U.S. they’ve helped to re-establish the Aplomado Falcon in southern New Mexico and Texas, and hatch California Condors for release into the wilds of the Grand Canyon. Many birds of prey are at risk due to habitat loss through human activity or climate change and other factors. The Peregrine Fund does a lot of research to find causes and improve the success rate of the birds.

The Center created ponds that attract song birds.

A California Condor sunning in its flight enclosure.

The Aplomado Falcon was reintroduced to southern New Mexico and Texas.

Birds of prey are so important in the balance of nature and important and helpful to humans so their conservation is critical. The Fund operates on public and private donations. Visit their web site at peregrinefund.org and give a donation for the birds.

The World Center for Birds of Prey is an impressive facility south of Boise. You won’t be able to see the Condors being raised as they must be kept from human contact but they have a flight cage for a pair of Condors and enclosures where you can see other raptors from around the world. These are the World Centers bird ambassadors that help to educate people. The birds have disabilities that keep them from being released back into the wild.

A Bateleur Eagle.

An Ornate Hawk-Eagle.

An Orange-breasted Falcon.

The Peregrine Falcon gives flight demonstrations.

The Bald Eagle is an impressive ambassador.

The Gyrfalcon is a bird of the north.

We attended two live bird talks given by trained volunteers that love the birds and give their time to take care of them.

A volunteer shows the Aplomado Falcon during a bird talk.

Lucy the Turkey Vulture likes people and will climb a branch to be near the window and closer to you. No, she's not scoping you out for a future meal. She likes to untie the volunteers shoe laces when they come to clean her enclosure.

Lucy the Turkey Vulture, a very intelligent bird.

A sign by Lucy's enclosure tell you what she'd like you to know about her unique talents. She's so awesome.

The building where the live bird talks are given also has some outstanding works of art. The plaque below tells you about the amazing Bald Eagle sculpture.

This plaque tells you about the amazing Bald Eagle sculpture below.

Power and Grace, a life-size carving.

We also take a guided tour of the Falcon Archives which houses and extensive research library that is visited by falconers from all over the world. Falconers have played a major role in recovery and conservation and have a mission to educate people about birds of prey.

An exhibit in the Falcon Archives teaches about the tradition of falconry in the Middle East.

The Falcon Archives contains a fabulous art and rare book collection that is a delight. One wing of the facility was built with money donated by sheikhs from the United Arab Emirates. Falconry is part of their long cultural history and they've done much to conserve not just birds of prey but game birds that would have been hunted to extinction by humans.

You can walk into a real Bedouin tent in this exhibit of a Bedouin camp.

The exhibits in this wing features a Bedouin camp, the “furniture” used in falconry, art works and a theater with a wonderful short film.

Learning about society and falconry on the Arabian Peninsula.

The next day when we go to the Mercedes dealer they find we need a replacement part and don’t want us to drive until the part comes in a few day and it can be serviced. We move from the KOA to the Riverside RV Park to be closer to the dealer and not have to drive to get groceries. We’re in luck. The Boise Green Belt Bike Path goes right by the RV Park.

Canada Geese also enjoy the Boise Green Belt Bike Path.

A bike repair stand complete with air pump on the Boise Green Belt Bike Path. You can change a tire or do bike repairs.

The stand has a place to mount your bike . . .

. . . and repair tools. What a concept!

We spend another day doing a 30-mile bike ride and visiting the Discovery Center downtown next to the bike path. They have a wonderful traveling exhibit of Leonardo DeVenci’s inventions. The exhibit features working scale models that an Italian family built from DeVinci’s original drawings. The exhibit was a lot of fun and offered a renewed appreciation of his genius.

Along the bike path we stop to watch Cormorant parents feeding a fledgling.

The following day we get the service done on our Sprinter and by the afternoon we’re heading down the road. We drive to Eagle and head north on Highway 55 then east on 24 to intersect Highway 21 back to Stanley. Highway 24 and 21 follow the South Fork of the Payette River, a beautiful scenic drive.

We’re on our way to our next adventure in Idaho. We’ll be visiting Ice Cave and Mammoth Cave in the lava fields.

See you down the road.
Jackie