July 14, 2005: Duncan, BC (Birds of Prey Centre), Victoria, and BC Ferry to Vancouver (14 PHOTOS, 9 BIRD/ANIMAL)

In the morning we visited the Quw' utsun' Cultural and Conference Centre right in town in Duncan. This was a great museum showing the history of some of the native cultures on Vancouver Island. This was a nice museum and well worth the visit. Below is a photo of one of the totems at the centre, depicting an eagle. If you look carefully, there is an actual BALD EAGLE soaring in the background.

Our next stop was at the Pacific Northwest Raptor Center in Duncan. This was a raptor centre with many different kinds of raptors on display, and an awesome flying bird show presented by a falconer. Well worth it! Photos are below...

One of the raptor enclosures at the centreSnowy OwlLanner Falcon

Harris' HawkGolden EagleFlying Great Horned Owl in the bird showLanner Falcon flying to a lure during the flying show Cooper's Hawk
This Willow Flycatcher was on the grounds. He left when the raptors came out!
We checked the Victoria (BC) Airport for Skylarks - the last place in North America where they reliably exist. (Skylarks were introducted to the Northwest from Europe in the early 20th Century, but most populations have died out, except a few around Victoria) (Read more) We left Vancouver Island at Nanaimo, taking the BC Ferry at that location to Horseshoe Bay on the mainland (just north of Vancouver.) (BC Ferries site) This is a scenic ride through a part of the channel that features lots of small islands. We got some other great views, photos below:
Mount Baker (located in the U.S. in Washington State) is visible from the ferry ride.
We also saw several groups of Orcas (Killer Whales) on the ride!

Downtown Vancouver