Nothing ever stays the same.

We went to the Carlise Metro park Visitor Center today for a opportunity to photograph some of the raptors that are cared for there.
Evan loved seeing the birds, what six year old with a fascination for animals wouldn't. Michelle and I where a bit disappointed. We had volunteered there when the raptor program had just started, caring for the birds, helping to build enclosures and doing educational programs with them. Michelle had even taken classes with Walter Crawford at the World Bird Sanctuary on a grant from the Black River Audubon Society. After Evan was born we volunteered less and less as he took up most of our time. Today was kind of a shock to us. After six years all of the people we had known and worked with there were gone. The birds are well cared for, but the new people seem to be far from relaxed with the birds. The program was short, just an hour, with only a few minutes with each bird, and some of the birds were unavailable.
All in all we left feeling that we had lost something. The Raptor Center and our time there was filled with many fond and wonderful memories. Today was like returning to a home you once lived in and finding only a house. The sense of home was gone, it had faded way into our memories. It was a sad moment for us, but it lead us to revisit those memories. To dust them off and live in them again for a time.
To Roy, the original members of the Raptor corps., Casper, Caspet ( two wonderful American Kestrels) and Alice the Coopers Hawk, today we were thinking of you.