BETHANY - Birds of prey fly high through Wayne County skies, often unnoticed, says Bill Streeter.
Streeter, of the Delaware Valley Raptor Center in Milford, Pike County, showcased his discrete yet swift friends - an eagle, hawk, owl and falcon - to the public at an event sponsored by the Bethany Public Library in Bethany, Saturday morning.
“Hawks and eagles look ticked off all the time,” he joked.
 But it’s a reasonable way to identify the penetrating - very keen - deep-set eyes of these birds of prey, also known as raptors.
A peregrine falcon, with nearly a four-foot wing span, drew awe from children and adults in the audience, especially when he said it can zoom 200-miles per hour when it dives for prey, making it the fastest animal in the world.
Then Streeter, a trained falconer who rehabilitates injured raptors at the center, placed a red-tailed hawk, known colloquially as a chickenhawk, on his protected, leather-encased hand - her talons safely digging in.
“She can see four to six times better than you can,” he said.  “She’d read a newspaper headline from a quarter-mile away.”
Red-tailed hawks are commonly seen fetching prey from grassy highway medians, which are loaded with mice.
Sightings
Now is the best time to spot raptors - including the mighty large golden eagle - since their north-south migration pattern is peaking.
Some birds of prey also winter in the region, he said.
Bald eagles have also been flourishing in the Delaware River Valley; there are 18-identified nests in the upper Delaware River area, he noted.
Route 590, near Lackawaxen on the county’s eastern edge, and Route 97 near Narrowsburg, NY, are bald eagle hot spots.
“If you don’t see 20 eagles, you’re having a bad day,” he said of that area.
The Delaware Valley Raptor Center is a non-profit, private membership organization dedicated to the conservation of birds of prey, according to its website. The center can be toured by obtaining a membership.  More information is available on their website: www.dvrconline.org