Who Gives a HOOT?

Hello Families and Friends of BHSSC,

What comes to mind when you think about owls? Surely not owl pellets. Today our campers saw what it was really like to dissect owl pellets. This allowed the campers to document what the owls had eaten. Once the campers dissected the pellets they then made a huge graph diagram of how many shrews, voles, moles, and other animals the owls had eaten. The picture below is of Matt (our on-hand genius) helping campers documents what they found.

While on the subject of owls we here at STEM thought it would be interesting to share five facts about the mystical creatures. We look forward to reconnecting with you about our next activity and stay tuned. Who Gives a HOOT? STEM gives a HOOT!

Five Owl Facts:

1. Owls belong to the Order Strigiformes.
The Order Strigiformes is further divided into two families, the barn owls (Family Tytonidae) and the typical owls (Family Strigidae). Owls are a diverse group of birds, with over 220 species of owls belonging to the Order Strigiformes.

2. Owls are birds of prey.
Owls feed on a wide variety of prey including mammals, other birds, insects, and reptiles. There are even some species of owls that live in Africa and Asia that feed on birds. Owls cannot chew their prey since, like all birds, they do not have teeth. Instead, they swallow small prey whole and must tear larger prey into smaller pieces before swallowing. They later regurgitate pellets of indigestible material such as bone, fur, and feathers.

3. Most owls are nocturnal.
Most owls are active at night. A few species (such as the pygmy owls) are active in the early morning or at dusk while some (such as the burrowing owl and the short-eared owl) are active during the day.

4. Owls' eyes are fixed in their sockets.
Owls are unable to move their eyes within their sockets to a great extent, which means they must turn their entire head to see in a different direction. Because owls have forward-facing eyes, they have well-developed binocular vision.

5. Many species of owls have special flight feathers adapted for silent flight.
Owls have developed special feather adaptations that enable them to minimize the sound made when flapping their wings. For instance, the leading edges of their primary feathers have a stiff fringes that reduces noise while the trailing edge of their primaries have soft fringes that helps to reduce turbulence. Downy feathers cover the surfaces of the wing to further reduce sound.

Facts were gathered from : http://animals.about.com/od/owl1/a/tenthingsowls.htm