New Zealand's first and only Bird of Prey Centre is located 10 mins. outside of Rotorua, in Paradise Valley. It is here that the endangered NZ Falcon is both rehabilitated and raised in a captive breeding program. After explaining why we had come, we were given a behind-the-scenes tour of their incubation ward and restoration project. Like most Birds of Prey, the NZ falcon chicks have a high mortality rate and so eggs are taken from the wild and incubated at Wingspan until they hatch. Then they are placed with "foster parents" so that they will not imprint on humans. When older, they are placed with falconers who free fly them every day so that they may learn the necessary hunting skills needed for their survival. We were treated to two flying demonstrations with both a male and female NZ falcon. The falconry training appears identical to those techniques used at Born to be Wild Nature Center. Dangers affecting the NZ Falcon are predation by stoats, ferrets, wild pigs and oppossums as well as man, who continue to shoot a hundred per year.
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