Birds of prey come to Peck Farm

Visitors to the Peck Farm Park in Geneva Saturday were able to participate in the program, "Birds of Prey - Migrating Majesty" that allowed guests to get up close and personal with several different predators.

The birds from the Stillman Nature Center in South Barrington were part of an educational event run by Mark Spreyer from the center. He showed visitors the different types of predators located in northeast Illinois, which include both the gray and red screech owl, red-tailed hawk, peregrine falcon, and snowy owl and barred owls, to name a few.

"They are all around us," he said, and some, such as the screech owl, are more at home in a suburban setting that in rural areas due to the lack of large trees on the heavily cultivated plains.

Visitors received the rare opportunity to view and take closeup cellphone photos of the birds that would be nearly impossible in the wild. The bird used in the program have all been injured in someway and would not survive in the wild, Spreyer said.