The Center For Birds of Prey is dedicated to the study and welfare of birds and their habitats and to engaging the public.

Besides being a place for visitors to stop by and checkout the wildlife, The Center For Birds of Prey will serve a substantial portion of the East Coast in the event of an oil spill too.

Some resident birds

• Ural Owl
• Black Vultures
• Saker Falcon
• Red-tailed hawk

Allow at least two hours for a visit to learn about raptors, from eagles and falcons to hawks and owls. The center offers a 50-minute guided tour of the aviaries and a 40-minute flight demonstration. Visitors can wander the grounds after the tour and visit the Owl Wood with its collection of owls from around the world. Demonstrations and tours are canceled or delayed if there is inclement weather.

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With so many people here to read last week’s Monkey Island, SC post, it seems poignant to show off a listing of primates around the world that are endangered right now. I felt it was important enough to include here, so take a second to enjoy the faces of all these primates, because who knows, they may not be here tomorrow.

Rondo Dwarf Galago Galagoides rondoensis	Ceylon Mtn. Slender Loris Loris tardigradus nycticeboides	Greater Bamboo Lemur Prolemur simus	Brown Spider Monkey Ateles hybridus
Pennant’s Red Colobus Procolobus p. pennantii	Simakobu Simias concolor	White-Collared Lemur Eulemur albocollaris	Brown-headed Spider M. Ateles f. fusciceps
Tana River Red Colobus Procolobus rufomitratus	Siau Island Tarsier Tarsius sp. nov.	Silky Sifaka Propithecus candidus	Yellow-tailed Woolly M. Oreonax flavicauda
Roloway Guenon Cercocebus diana roloway	Delacour’s Langur Trachypithecus delacouri	Sahamalaza Sportive L. Lepilemur sahamalazensis
Miss Waldron’s Red Colobus Procolobus badius waldroni	Cat Ba Langur Trachypithecus p. poliocephalus
Kipunji Rungwecebus kipunji	Western Purple-faced Langur Semnopithecus vetulus nestor
Cross River Gorilla Gorilla gorilla diehli	Grey-Shanked Douc Pygathrix cinerea
	Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Rhinopithecus avunculus
	Hainan Gibbon Nomascus hainanus
	W. Hoolock Gibbon Hoolock hoolock
	Sumatran Orangutan Pongo abelii

As you can see, most are from Asia - which makes sense since it’s the world’s largest continent - and then from Africa, with Madagascar and the neo-tropics of South America coming in 4th.

For more information, please read the IUCN’s article ‘Primates in Peril:
The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates.

Images courtesy of the IUCN.

Ironically, there have been more than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo

Money like that will get anyone’s attention, but this offer includes the warm-n-fuzzy of knowing that you’re helping shape our kids to be environmentally conscious with their lives.

The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) only has a few rules to qualify; applications must come from teachers who:

• • Teach 9th-12th grades in a U.S. public or private school
• • Have at least three years of teaching experience
• • Apply for one grant category
• • Are not serving as advisors to NEEF

Single Course Grants – for teachers in any subject area who want to infuse more environmental content into their coursework - $5,000 grants are available.

Cross-Curricular Grants – for a team of 3 or more teachers who want to integrate environmental themes across courses - $10,000 grants are available.

Visit the site to learn more, but that sounds like one heck of an incentive to me.

Classroom Earth is made possible by a generous contribution from The Weather Channel.