Chula Vista Nature Center
2010.12.26
After a late lunch, we drove down to the Chula Vista Nature Center, located in the Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge on the bay.
Visible through a window just outside the entrance, some young endangered Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtles were swimming in a tank. They were a little over one year old.
The main interior space has some small aquariums with various sea creatures native to the California coast.
We went out to a separate enclosure with two open aquarium tanks. One fairly shallow tank has Bat Rays and Round Stingrays that you can try to pet as they flap by at racing speed. At the larger, deeper tank, a crowd gathered to watch the sharks get fed. There were Leopard and Gray Smoothhound sharks, as well as Shovel-nosed Guitarfish and a couple crabs.
Then we walked outside along the aviary cages. The birds are all injured or otherwise non-releasable. On the left, Burrowing Owl. On the right, Short-eared Owl and Barn Owl.
On the left, a Bald Eagle. There were two Golden Eagles in the next cage. A keeper came out and gave them some rats and mice to eat. On the right, a Ferruginous Hawk.
On the left, a Cooper’s Hawk. On the right, an Osprey.
Natural History