environment
Colin Weir, the Executive Director of the
Birds of Prey Centre, has rescued families
of ducks, transported hawks in the back
seat of his car like chauffeured dignitaries
and is known to attract crowds of people
around him, especially if he is walking
through the lobby of large hotel, in a suit,
with a bald eagle on his arm.
His nearly-lifelong passion for rescuing,
rehabilitating and releasing birds of
prey is well known in southern Alberta
and beyond. An effort that began in the
early 1980s in his Coaldale back yard has
evolved to a facility – located on 140 acres
of working wetland in Coaldale, Alberta –
that in a typical summer hosts more than
15,000 visitors, houses more than 250
birds and employs up to 10 staff.
A
Among the thousands of student groups
who have experienced the Birds of Prey
Centre are nearly 600 grade two and
three students from L. T. Westlake Fine
Arts School in Taber, AB – who have been
visiting for more than 20 years.
According to their long-serving teacher,
Annie Lieverse, the students have taken
student’s hearts over the years,” Lieverse
said.
“Education and awareness is the key to
maintaining an interest in conservation
and creating a culture of empathy, as
Colin and his team do through their
obvious love for the birds. This benefits us
all.”
birDs of PreY Centre
Weir, additionally, wants people to know
that the Birds of Prey Centre is about more
than the birds he and his team rescue,
nurture and protect.
their visits so seriously that not only is the
school mascot a red-tailed hawk, (named
for permanent Centre resident Sky Glider)
the school motto, ‘Soaring Above and
Beyond’, is based on inspiration drawn
from flight.
Over the past 25 years, he’s taken a flat
field and transformed it into a working
model of a prairie wetland. The Birds of
Prey property is now an important and
evolving ecosystem that not only serves
the community as an international tourism
destination but, more pragmatically, helps
to protect Coaldale and the surrounding
County of Lethbridge from excess flood
water at peak times of the year.
SUPPorTS WeTLAND PreSerVATIoN
Over the wintertime, even though the
Centre is closed for walk-in visits, it is
still very busy. Weir is on call helping
with phone queries about injured birds
(even on holidays like Christmas day)
and guiding visiting school groups from
as far as Calgary and Edmonton who
often arrange group tours as part of their
science curriculum.
“The stories of the birds and their
rehabilitation have really touched the
B
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