Annually, tens of thousands of visitors head up to Northern Ireland for a trip around Eagle’s Flying, Ireland’s largest aviary sanctuary and research center for raptors and owls. This enclave for birds of prey is situated in the midst of dense crowns of oak and other shrubs shaping the mature parklands at South Sligo, run entirely by researchers and volunteer guides.

Step into the kingdom of birds, and catch more than just a glimpse of over a 100 ferocious predators of the sky swooping past your very eyes. Visitors young and old are bound to be wowed by the bird shows conducted twice each day. The researchers often explore questions such as how the thin black slit-like pupils of these birds grants them such precise vision while the birds in question themselves enter the arena to prove their prowess. Who knows, you might just be the lucky one deemed fit by the avian royalty to be perched on, their stiff feathers brushing against your skin.

If that’s too close for comfort, stroll down the gravel paths heading into the wooded surroundings. Here, flat disks have been set up as perches and it isn’t uncommon to find the menacing stare of a vulture upon you or spot the regal white of a bald eagle startlingly visible against the brown trunks all around. Carefully enclosed within a tin roofed barn is the pet enclosure, a personal favorite of the kids as they get to cuddle with adorable rabbits and form a tenuous friendship with the easily appeased python. Walking into Eagles Flying is an invitation extended by these feathered forces of nature to view their abode and is an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed.