Today Jarrett's class had a field trip to Lindsay Wildlife Museum. One of the chaperones was unable to make it at last minute and asked me to substitute. I had the day off so why not. Here's Jarrett petting a gopher snake.
Learned that barn owls feed their young in birth order (oldest to youngest). The mother catches and feeds each a minimum of 4 mice per day. If the hunt falls short so does the youngest. The owl grabs its prey at 30 mph with nice sharp clenching talons.
Here's a narcoleptic acorn woodpecker. He'd bounce around for a while and then look up and fall asleep for a few minutes. Miraculously it never fell.
Here's a shot of the birds we could see
The docent was kind enough to do a demonstration with the wings from day hunters (think hawks) and night hunters (think owls). The docent waved a wing from from each while we closed our eyes and had us listen for a sound. You could hear the wing of the day hunter, but not the night hunter. The rationale is that day hunters don't have to be stealthy to catch their prey. Also day hunters need stiffer wings to support their hunting style of soaring and swooping. While night hunters sit and watch then with little sound surprise their prey.
Lunchtime with classmates.
Bald eagle
We finished our visit by going back after lunch and visiting other exhibits, where we got the picture of the bald eagle above.
1 comment:
Can you rename the blog Seven Foxes since you had Aunica?
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