For our March 2024 meeting, our season finale for the 23/24 programme year, we welcome Tonya and three of her gorgeous owls from HOOT with Me CIC to our meeting.
Tonya introduced us to Ethel the Little Owl, Arthur the Tawny Owl, and Johnny the Barn Owl. Hoot with Me is a conservation charity keen to educate others about wildlife and what we can do to make life better for our feathered friends. We learned all sorts of facts about owls during a 40 minute talk, then anyone who wanted to could have a go at holding an owl on the glove. Here are just a few of the fascinating things we learned. Owls are silent when they fly, their feathers have a serrated edge which means they don’t create turbulence.If an owl were in a space the size of a football pitch, they would be able to hear a mouse’s heart beating. Their facial disk operates like a satellite dish and enables them to tune into sounds, and the strip down the middle of their face enables their ears to hear independently of each other. Little Owls come out during the day, Barn Owls and Tawny Owls are nocturnal. All owls except Barn Owls are waterproof. Tawny Owls are monogamous - Arthur is married to Beryl. Females tend to be larger than males. The male hunts for both of them once the female starts incubating eggs. Eggs are laid several days apart, germination takes 30 days, so they also hatch at different times. They tend to fledge at about 7 weeks, and are fully grown at 12 weeks but will remain with their parents for up to 2 years. Tawny Owls like a nice hollow tree or a hole to nes in. Barn Owls like old buildings, Little Owls nest lower down in trees, or in holes in the ground. Owls have three eyelids, one to blink, one to sleep, one to clean & protect the eye. Owls have four toes at the front and one at the back and whiskers on their feet so if they drop their prey, they can feel where it is. Their ‘lock grip’ grip is as strong as a human bite. It takes 9-13 hours to digest their food and regurgitate the waste in a pellet, but they poo every 8-9 minutes. This was widely voted to be one of our BEST meetings ever. Everyone was absolutely enthralled, and one member thought it quite simply the best birthday evening out ever and was treated to a rendition of Happy Birthday to you.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Swallowtail WIGet the inside scoop on the life of a WI member. Archives
March 2024
Categories |