This fall, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson is bringing back it's Raptor free flight presentation. This is one of the museum's most popular seasonal exhibitions, and often called one of the most extraordinary birds of prey demonstrations in the United States.
Now through April 2014, visitors to the museum can enjoy daily shows at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. If you're expecting a traditional amphitheater demonstration, you're in for a thrill. The raptors fly in the open desert, completely untethered and without leg straps. They swoop and soar while a museum narrator describes their behaviors and habitats.
A gray hawk lands in front of visitors at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's raptor free flight presentation. — Photo courtesy of Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Raptors, like wolves, hunt as a family using strategy. The presentation gives guests an insightful glimpse into the hunting mechanism of different birds of prey in the wild.
The raptor free flight presentation is not only exciting, it's also a good way to learn about native desert birds. Only birds native to the Sonoran Desert and surrounding desert regions are flown. Each show is unique too, with different birds flying each day.
Guests will be able to view barn owls, peregrine falcons, great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, Chihuahuan ravens, prairie falcons and other birds of prey. Seasoned bird watchers will enjoy seeing the Harris's Hawks, which are only found in the wild in Arizona.
