Yesterday, we attended a presentation
on raptors by The Raptor Conservancy of Virginia. Their
organization is dedicated to rehabilitating injured, ill, or
orphaned birds of prey and releasing them back into the wild when
possible. The birds shown to us yesterday are ones who could
not be released because they wouldn't make it in the wild for one
reason or another.
My kids have been obsessed
with owls after reading the
Guardians of
Ga'Hoole series by Scholastic. They LOVED the series and
so this outing was perfect for them!
This is an
Eastern Screech Owl. He's very small also.
Apparently, they are very common in our area and we most likely have
them in our backyard. I'll
have to start listening for them. I know I've heard this call
before.
Listen
to his call. Screech owls camouflage by sucking in and
turning sideways to make themselves really skinny and closing their
eyes to slits. This makes them look more like a branch.
To see a video of this, click
here. The part I'm talking about doesn't happen until 2:03
minutes into the Japanese video.
This is a cute
Barred Owl, also known as the Hoot Owl. He was more the
size that we were expecting owls to be, but still very small.
His call is a typical type of owl call that we all learned as kids.
I know I've heard this call in my backyard.
Listen to
his call. Great Horned Owls are their only predators.
This is a
Barn Owl. The Barn Owl calls infrequently, the usual call
being a drawn-out rasping screech.
Listen to
his call. Barn Owls are short-lived birds. Most die in
their first year of life, with the average life expectancy being 1
to 2 years in the wild.
This is a beautiful
Great Horned Owl. She was really big like we thought most
owls were. She is in captivity because she was illegally
raised by someone and had imprinted on humans. She thinks
she's a human and she thinks that the man holding her is her
"significant other". She's very protective of him. She
was "threatening" us in the picture below.
Listen to her call. She had so much personality.
When he went to put her back in her box, she didn't jump right in
like all the others, she turned and looked at "her man" and had this
little pleading look on her face, like "why"? It was so cute.
She talked a little to him and he talked back to her and then she
agreed to go in her cage. Precious!
Owlet Rescue and Release
This beautiful bird is the result
of some kind of an unnatural, scientific breeding of falcons.
The experts think he is a mix of
Merlin and
Peregrine falcon. Unnatural breeds like this cannot be
released into the wild so he was given to the Raptor Conservacy
of Virginia to use as an educational bird. He was very
skinny when they got him but he has now doubled his weight.
This is a fabulous
Red-Tailed Hawk. He was really big.
Listen to his call - just like the old western movies!
Its cry is sometimes used inaccurately as that of an eagle cry
in movies.
We plan on watching PBS's
Pale
Male next week. Pale Male is a red-tailed hawk who lives
in NYC with his mate, Lola. It is common for peregrine falcons
to live under NYC bridges and steel towers but not red-tailed hawks.
Pale Male and Lola have become celebrities. You can see more
pictures of them nesting here.
Eagles Fighting in the Air
After the presentation, the kids
enjoyed spending the rest of the afternoon playing around in the
stream outside the Long Branch Nature Center.
Click
here to see Ramsey Central's photos from the event.
