Feel Good Friday - Eyes in the Sky Revisited

Today I’m revisiting a post from 10 years ago in honor of a friend who recently passed away. She was a longtime volunteer at Eyes in the Sky in Santa Barbara so it’s time to take another look at this organization.

Since the year 2000, Eyes in the Sky (EITS) has been the key wildlife education program of the Santa Barbara Audubon Society and it is still the only licensed raptor education program in Santa Barbara County.

EITS is home to seven rescued and rehabilitated birds of prey who serve as wildlife education ambassadors. There are three owls, two kestrels, a falcon and a hawk. While the birds are housed in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the majority of the EITS programs take place off site in “public elementary schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, and after school programs.” They include classroom visits from the birds, neighborhood bird walks and art sessions where you can draw, paint or photograph the birds.

If you live in Santa Barbara and want to get involved with Eyes in the Sky you can visit or volunteer. The rest of us can show our support by making a donation and spreading the word on social media. Like the Santa Barbara Audubon Society Facebook page and follow them on Instagram @sbaudubon.

Teresa and Ivan

If you do donate, I would appreciate if you can mark your donation “in memory of Teresa Fanucchi”. Thank you. 

Friday, November 22, 2013 - Feel Good Friday - Eyes in the Sky

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and you may be thinking about turkey (mmm, turkey) but Feel Good Friday is here to talk about raptors! 

You may be asking yourself, "Are thoughts of turkey really what prompted this post?" Well, no. Admittedly, I recently saw a friend who volunteers with Eyes in the Sky and she told me about this very cool program that I'm going to share with you.

As they explain on their website, "Eyes in the Sky (EITS) has been Santa Barbara Audubon’s key wildlife education program since 2000. It features seven birds of prey that serve as education ambassadors. All were rescued and rehabilitated but, due to permanent disabilities, can no longer survive in the wild. They were adopted from wildlife rehabilitation centers that would otherwise, by law, have had to be euthanized."

If you live in (or visit) Santa Barbara you can visit the center to meet the birds. If you're a teacher in the area, you can make arrangements for EITS to bring one or more raptors to your classroom for a storytelling program. That's a show and tell day you don't want to miss!

Max

For those of you who live too far away to drop by, there's a video of Max, a Great horned owl that you can watch here. You can also like the Santa Barbara Audubon Society's Facebook page to stay in the loop.

Finally, apologies if this post made the Alan Parsons Project song Eye in the Sky gets stuck in your head. If it's any consolation it's stuck in my head too.