Raptor Force

Just watched a video called, Raptor Force (PBS Nature series), with my classes as a prelude to tomorrow's AHS visit by naturalists from the Leslie Science Center in Ann Arbor, who will be bringing in live raptors and speaking about their special talents--all aligned to state standards, of course!  The film got me to thinking about the raptors that have come through Southgate Anderson's 38-acre Nature Center over the years...A couple of weeks ago, we had a short-eared owl visiting during its migration southward.  Quite a thrill, as it is a state-threatened species in Michigan.  I have noted this rare bird once before in the Anderson Nature Center...We also have seen, over the past several years, a few bald eagles, a couple of ospreys, a merlin, some kestrels and resident red-tailed hawks, as well as numerous Cooper's hawks, a great horned owl, and some kettles of vultures and broad-winged hawks passing overhead during their long-distance migrations, along with a few sharp-shinned hawks; so, we have had quite the raptor display at AHS over the past decade.  These sightings are always exciting, as Southgate is located just 10 miles or so south of Detroit near the Detroit River corridor.  More urban than rural, there are still unique natural oases found in the Detroit area where one can find wonder and joy while observing the beauty of the natural world around us...But, the film also showed how video cameras were revealing the world of the raptors in more intimate detail than ever, as small cameras were fitted to the backs of falcons, hawks and eagles during flight to follow their every movement, providing stunning images of the world below at raptor speed...Remote sensing from a bird's-eye view!  Spectacular!  The inspiration humans get, and have gotten, from other living things to make our lives better is incalculable in my estimation; and, it is these interactions with other living things that enrich our human experience to depths we cannot even fathom, though I know intuitively in my soul that they are experiences I cannot live without...Will the aerokats/twin cams on kites inspire me to new heights, like birds have?  I doubt it; but, I like to think that this project brings me a little closer to the world of other living things that we share the planet with.  Hopefully, the ICCARS Project will result in lessons for humans that teach not only about remote sensing and the need to monitor our Earth systems for signs of potentially harmful change, but in lessons that continue to feed our wonder of the natural world around us and allow us--students in particular--to appreciate the intimate link between the miraculous evolutionary adaptations of nature's creatures and our ability to imagine and design new technologies that benefit humanity.  I hope we learn one day to honor our kinship with, and dependence on, other fellow "Earthlings" with more benign technologies that display not only human ingenuity and technological prowess, but ecological wisdom as well...Let us learn to soar to the Sun with our newfound wisdom, while humbly acknowledging our limitations before we lose all our feathers...