Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XXV · Topic 2: Bird study: birds to know
25. The screech owl
Goal: Your child can describe how an owl's eyes, ears, soft feathers and hooked beak and claws suit it for hunting at night.
You'll need
- A recording of the screech owl's call (eastern and western screech owls sound different)
- A flashlight for an evening walk
- Pictures of owls in a bird book
- Optionally, a store-bought, heat-treated owl pellet kit with gloves
- Nature notebook
What's in the book
The leading thought, the method (begin when the children hear the owl; use any observation, pictures and stories) and eleven questions about its cry, eyes, beak, feet, colors, silent flight, ears, daytime hiding, nest, food and pellets, and its value to farmers. A poem, "Two Wise Owls", follows.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Screech owls live all year in towns, parks and farm woodlots with old trees, and call most in late winter, spring and fall evenings. Their call is a soft whinny or a long, even trill, not a screech. Comstock begins the lesson whenever the children first hear one.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
This owl is especially adapted to get its prey at night. It feeds largely on field mice, grasshoppers, caterpillars and other injurious insects and is therefore the friend of the farmer.
Comstock mentions a captive owlet. Today keeping a wild owl is against the law; use pictures, recordings and an evening walk instead.
Listen at dusk
Step outside on a calm evening and listen together.
Have you ever heard the screech owl? At what time of the day or night? Why was this? Why does the owl screech? How did you feel when listening to the owl's song?
Don't play recordings loudly outdoors to call owls; it disturbs them. Listen at home first.
Owl eyes
Describe the owl's eyes. Are they adapted to see by night?
Are the owl's eyes placed so that they can see at the sides like other birds. How does it see an object at the sides or behind it?
Compare with the hen in Lesson IV: an owl's eyes face forward, and it turns its whole head.
Beak, claws and feathers
Note the owl's beak. For what purpose is a hooked beak?
How is the owl's plumage adapted to silent flight? Why is silent flight advantageous to this bird?
Use a picture if you haven't seen one up close.
Hiding by day
As the owl hunts during the night, what does it do in the daytime? How and by what means does it hide itself?
Describe the colors of the screech owl. Are all these owls of the same color? How do these colors protect the bird from its enemies?
Screech owls are gray or reddish-brown, the colors of tree bark.
Pellets (optional)
How do they get rid of the indigestible portion of their food? How does this habit help the scientists to know the food of the owls?
If you have a store-bought, heat-treated owl pellet, open it with gloves and tweezers and sort the tiny bones. Don't handle pellets found outdoors, and wash hands afterward.
Nature notebook
Draw a screech owl peeking from a tree hole, with its ear tufts and big eyes. Ask your child to tell you the leading thought in their own words, then share Comstock's.
Afterwards
On a few calm evenings this season, listen for owls for five minutes after dark and note the date and what you hear.
Tip
Never approach or pick up an owl, even a young one on the ground. Its claws are very sharp, and its parents are usually close.