Monday, August 31, 2015

Woodsmen's Field Days Redo

When we first went to the Woodsmen's Field Days, we had no idea it would turn into a tradition.  We watched the entire lumberjill competition the last 2 years and last year, also the parade in town.

This year, we left the house at 10am hoping to beat the traffic going to the fairgrounds.  Did not happen. Those signs warning about traffic on Friday and Saturday of the event were not kidding. Bypassing the parking lot that was Main Street, it still took an extra 15minutes just to drive half a mile to Schuyler Street. Fortunately, we had earlier gotten directions to the back way and from there, it was smooth sailing to the fairgrounds.


After passing by some of the forestry and other displays, we stopped at the power chainsaw carve competition. It was amazing to watch the skilled carvers using those  powerful chainsaws to create such beautiful and intricate designs.


Our personal favorite was this carving of bears in a canoe.




Adapted from power carve's facebook page

















The presentation by the Page Wildlife Center of the various birds of prey was fascinating.

We learned about the characteristics of the birds on display and got to get close to them (but no touching) as the presenters went about the crowd showing them off.  From the smallest owl (screech owl) to the large, ugly turkey vulture, each bird has its own special interesting story.  The Harris Hawk which can only be found in the southwestern part of the country is something we have to look out for once we leave our summer retreat and return to our main home.

Barred Owl
Great Horned Owl
Screech Owl

Barn Owls



Peregrine Falcon

Sparrow Hawk or American Kestrel
Harris's Hawk



Turkey Vulture



A demonstration of the red tail hawk's feeding left some observers slightly grossed out. But hey, that's how these raptors feed. 





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