By Staff
September 2, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
The folks at the Mountsberg Conservation Area are going to use the coming weekend to celebrate one of nature’s most incredible, and frequently misunderstood, creatures – the vulture.
Believe it or not there is an International Vulture Awareness Day.
Turkey vultures have a really big wing spread which allows them to float above their prey for quite a while.
Vultures all over the world are facing ecological challenges brought on by loss of habitat and pressures from human activity. This is your chance to learn about these fascinating animals, including the Turkey Vulture, Ontario’s only native vulture species. Park visitors will have the opportunity to learn all about how beneficial vultures are to the environment, and how intelligent and social they can be.
The day will include:
You get to meet Casey and Buzz – face to beak. He isn’t exactly pretty is he?
Vulture-themed crafts and colouring
Vulture games
Vulture displays
Opportunities to meet the Raptor Centre’s residents Turkey Vultures, Casey and Buzz, up close and ‘nose-to-beak’!
The Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) is Ontario’s only native vulture species, and their graceful silhouettes are often seen soaring near the escarpment and over Greenbelt rural land. Their bald heads and grisly culinary habits often lead people to dismiss them as unsanitary and unattractive, but this is unfair to the hard-working and highly efficient turkey vulture.
This event is free with cost of park admission ($7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors and children 5 to 15 years, and free for children 4 years and under); Halton Parks members only need to show their pass for admission. Mountsberg’s International Vulture Awareness Day activities will take place throughout the day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 5.
A nice inexpensive way to ease the kids from those lazy hazy days of summer into the discipline of a classroom and text books.
The Mountsberg Conservation Area is located on Milburough Line, five km west of Campbellville, ON, between Highway 6 South and the Guelph Line.
