Hunley and Birds of Prey

Saturday was our big day out as we made a day trip to Charleston.

Our first stop was the H. L. Hunley.  Grandpa has been involved and very interested in the Hunley submarine which is now housed in a warehouse near the Navy Shipyards in Charleston.  The Hunley was one of the first submarines and the first submarine to sink a warship, the Housatonic.  This happened in Charleston harbor in 1864 during the Civil War.  This very small, cramped submarine was like a glorified tube that housed eight men who used a hand-crank to power the sub. 

Inside was tiny, cramped and dangerous, yet on the night of February 17, 1864 eight men maneuvered the sub through the harbor where they made contact with the Housatonic, rammed the side with the Hunley's spar and planted a small torpedo.  The impact from the torpedo blew a sizable hole in the side of the Housatonic, sinking it.  Meanwhile what happened inside the Hunley is still a mystery.  It never returned to shore until 140 years later when a research crew finally located it buried in the bottom of the harbor and raised it.  The Hunley remained completely intact with all the men and their belongings still inside.  It is a fascinating time capsule of the war that is part of an ongoing research project.  Consequently, very little is available to the general public to see right now except the Hunley itself which sits in a giant vat of what is essentially diluted Drano (to remove the crud built up on it over the years), and a gold coin, ring and brooch that belonged to Captain Hunley.  Hopefully more will be put on display soon.

The Hunley in its Drano bath

This was a model of the Hunley.  It was actually 1/3 bigger than the actual vessel.

That crank is how it was powered!

After our tour of the Hunley, we hurried back in the car to drive over to the Center for Birds of Prey.  London is fascinated by all birds of prey, particularly the osprey, and a few months ago my mom read about this center in a magazine.  It was touted by Jack Hanna as being one of the best centers he's ever seen.  She's had it on her "to do" list when we came for a visit for a while.

And the place was worth the wait!  It began as a bird rescue center with a clinic for recovering birds, but they soon realized that not every bird was able to be rehabilitated and returned to the wild so they started a collection of various birds of prey from around the world.  There were lots and lots of different hawks, falcons, kites, eagles, owls, and vultures (no osprey).  They even had a ferruginous hawk, a little known bird which Emmy and London are fascinated with.

Lanner falcon

We had an hour tour which included a chance to see the "vulture cafe".  About once a month the staff sets out all the leftover food from the center and wild vultures from all around fly in and chow down.  After the tour we got to experience a super cool flight demonstration which included Harris hawks, Eurasian Eagle owl, and a yellow-billed kite.

During the Harris hawk demonstration they asked for a volunteer - and London was chosen!  (I think it was because the volunteer needed to have lace up shoes and London was the only one wearing tennis shoes in 90 degree heat...)  Anyways, London had to simulate a "rabbit" running across a field.  They gave him a dummy rabbit on the end of a rope and told him to run his fastest across the field with it.  Sure enough, those hawks swooped in and attacked his rabbit!

I thought the coolest part of the show was when they flew the Eurasian eagle owl.  When we bought our tickets, the lady had shared that a good place to sit during the flight show was high and right under a perch so that's where Cannon and I sat.  And sure enough, when they flew the owl, he flew strait across the field and right over our heads.  I'm pretty sure he brushed the top of my head with his wings.  This resulted in the coolest shots EVER!

Look at those eyes!!!  And this was not taken with a telephoto lens.  Too cool!

This was the second time he flew across - I love the shape of his wings.

Looks like he was focused on us, but I guess he had the perch just above our heads in his scope.

Here's my artistic creations - need to figure out how to color just those eyes.

And some more bird shots...

Eurasian kestrel

This guy is not landing on her hand, but taking a piece of meat while flying.

Yellow billed kite

After the flight show, we went to see all the birds they have.  Emmy liked the red tailed hawk the best.

London wanted his photo with the Tawny Eagle.

And here's all three with the ferruginous hawk.

The last stop was Owl Woods where they brought out the baby owls for us to see.

After that full day, we piled in the car stopping in Beaufort for dinner and some ice cream.