EndreWhiteMane: Cats can make a mess of you, Landlord's boyfriend found mine in the garage, picked it up and hit the closer for the garage door, cat panicked, he tried to hang on. Voila', bloody mess. ;-)
AND, I just did some research on barn owls. Apparently that big scary owl that I met as a kid probably weighed closer to 4 pounds! I'd really hate to meet a pissed off Great Horned close up. :O
In the summer I can usually see 4-5 Bald Eagles from my front porch hunting over the river. Awe inspiring sight.
I've handled Great Horned Owls a couple of times, they're just big softies ;)
They're usually stuffing their faces with chicken at the time though, so probably not very grumpy.
I'd love to see Eagles in the wild. I've seen a captive one flown in a demonstration, but never one in the wild.
ddickinson: That's not fair! I only got to hold them, but you got to ride them, those must be some big birds. ;-)
They are lovely though, especially when you get to see them hunt. The place near you sounds very nice, I go to bird of prey shows that are seasonal, not any static place. During the summer they host displays quite often all over the countryside, especially near English Heritage tourist sites. But my favourite is the castle ones, seeing those big birds of prey flying around a medieval castle, and then sometimes getting to hold them and see just how big those claws are. Always fun.
There are quite a few birds of prey centres near by, and a few seasonal shows too like the ones near you.
I've never been to the place that does the whole day experience, but it's a wild life park and they have other stuff too like feeding lemurs and tapirs, which I would also love to do :)