Birds of Prey Centre opens owl amphitheatre
$250,000 PROJECT MADE POSSIBLE BY FORTISALBERTA
The Alberta Birds of Prey Centre celebrated the grand opening of its new FortisAlberta Owl Amphitheatre on Tuesday with a barbecue luncheon and a little help from Fort Macleod W.A. Day School students.
The $250,000 covered, outdoor, shaded structure was largely paid for by FortisAlberta, and will allow, as the name suggests, Birds of Prey Centre staff to have better conditions for public presentations on owls, which can be extremely sensitive to hot weather in the summer.
Birds of Prey Centre director Colin Weir led an owl demonstration in the new amphitheatre for W.A. Day students to mark the occasion.
“We have been working on this for about three years,” said Weir afterward. “Every time FortisAlberta helps us out it is like another quantum leap in the quality of the facilities we have. It really enriches the experience we have for these school children that we have an all-weather facility where we can do programs about owls regardless of how hot the summer days are, or if it is raining.”
FortisAlberta vice-president of customer service Todd Dettling was on hand to help open the new amphitheatre. Dettling said because his company is having to deal with risks to birds of all kinds in its business on a regular business, it was important to work with organizations like the Birds of Prey Centre to help educate its operators on how best to mitigate those risks.
“The interface between birds and powerlines can be quite challenging,” he stated, “and we have learned a lot together with the Birds of Prey Centre in how to protect the birds of prey. We can do that by installing different types of devices that can basically deter birds from making contact with a powerline. We learn about the habitat and offspring nests which tend to like to set up on top of our powerline systems. We have learned to install platforms to help offset that risk for those birds adjacent to, and the repeat nature of the birds is to come back to that platform instead of coming in close proximity with our powerlines.”
Dettling also felt the Birds of Prey Centre offered a valuable public education experience in southern Alberta.
“We are very pleased to be part of (this amphitheatre),” he said. “Our goal is to educate children in powerline safety, and this is just an extension of our education (initiatives) for children in the community. I think this is a great addition, and we are proud to be part of it.”
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