Most owls are nocturnal birds that are found everywhere in the world. The fossils of the owls’ existence have dated back 54 million years ago. There are 205 different owl species. The owl species are divided into 2 different groups, one known as the barn owl, and the other as the true owls. True owls are more common than barn owls. The picture above shows a burrowing owl, which is a species of true owls. They have round faces where as barn owls have heart shaped faces. Most owls use their binocular vision to hunt prey. Owls have large eyes that set forward on their heads that allow them to have excellent depth perception. Their eyes have several large special cells called rods that are sensitive to low light. Their eyes are fixed in their …show more content…
sockets which makes them unable to see prey without turning their heads. There necks have a large turning radius that allows them to follow prey as they move. Owls are equipped with excellent hearing. This is important for hunting rodents at night. The burrowing owl pictured above is the smallest of all the owls; it’s one of the few breeds of owls that hunt during the day. Owls have many adaptation traits that have helped them survive for so many years. One of the most significant traits that owls possess is the ability to fly stealth. From the picture above the primary feathers have 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. This allows owls to adapt to any environment because of its ability to sneak up on prey such as mice, squirrels, and rabbits. Since owls like most birds don’t have teeth they swallow there prey whole. An owl uses its claws to tear larger prey into pieces to avoid choking while trying to swallow it whole. Once they swallow the prey the stomach is unable to digest everything so the owls often regurgitate bones, feathers, and other indigestible parts of the prey. An owls diet also consists of grasshoppers, beetles, and other various insects. Owls are great at blending into the environment as most of them have black and, or brown feathers giving them the ability to camouflage themselves from prey, and other predators. The feathers are also heavily insulated which allows them to adapt to cold climates giving them a better chance of survival. The fact that owls diet is so complex gives them the ability to adapt to any environment they encounter. This is one of the main reasons that owls have been around for millions of years because insects, and rodents have been around for so many years keeping owls from dying off. Recent studies have shown that burrowing owls are dying off at a rate of 22% percent each year.
One of the main reasons that burrowing owls are becoming endangered is because the habitat changes in the United States. They require grasslands to look for holes to nest in. Since burrowing owls are unable dig their own holes they rely on prairie dogs, badgers, and gophers. Most people consider the above animals to be a hassle because they dig holes in places they shouldn’t they end up getting killed off by poisons. Burrowing owls are predators, but because they are the smallest of all the owls they are not on the top of the owl food chain. This puts them at risk for becoming prey to other predators in the wild such as other owls, coyotes, badgers, and several other predators.
In conclusion, owls have shown they are excellent at adapting to any environment by the ability to fly silently to stalk prey. They use camouflaged and insulated feathers to hide and keep warm while hunting. Owl’s excellent binocular vision, and hearing helps to track prey from long distances. The only real risk of extinction of the burrowing owl is if people continue to kill off animals that dig holes for them. They have shown the ability to survive for a long time with the help of other animals digging holes for them. Owl’s will continue to evolve long after humans have
passed.
The Pacific Northwest is perhaps most commonly known for its awe-inspiring old growth forests that have been gracing the land for hundreds and hundreds of years. The land in British Colombia, Canada, Washington state, Oregon, and parts of Northern California are the only areas in the world where these forests exist. One of the most unique and amazing inhabitants of this age-old forest is the Northern Spotted Owl. The Northern Spotted Owl has been on the endangered species list for over ten years now. The Northern Spotted Owl can only be found in these old growth forests. The northern spotted owl requires many acres old forests to survive, due to its scarce food supply. They are very sensitive to their habitat, and simply cannot survive in any other environment. These owls, as well as the forests have been disappearing at an alarming rate due to the immense logging industry in its area.
Ever since 1973, when the Endangered Species Act came into being, conservationists and private landowners have been debating over whether to preserve the habitats of many endangered species found in unprotected areas (Ligon et al, 1986). Increasing levels of human development has led to the cutting of old-growth forests and construction of roads and other physical barriers to wildlife. These activities have greatly contributed to the fragmentation of wildlife habitat, which has had detrimental effects on the population structure and survivorship of the affected area’s indigenous species. One species that has been affected by habitat fragmentation is the red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis), a nonmigratory bird with a home range covering most of the southeastern United States (Roise et al, 1990). Habitat fragmentation has led to the loss of genetic variability, nesting sites, and suitable population sizes to support cooperative breeding requirements. These factors have been responsible for the precipitous decline of the red-cockaded woodpecker. Because the red-cockaded woodpecker provides important ecological and economic benefits to both humans and the environment, we should strongly consider enacting a conservation plan for this species.
Are adults overprotective of their children? To what point do we protect children? Where should the line be drawn? Along with those questions is how easily children can be influenced by these same adults. Two poets, Richard Wilbur and Billy Collins, express the ideas of how easily children can be manipulated and how sometimes adults think they are protecting their innocent children, when in reality they are not. Wilbur and Collins express these ideas in their poems through numerous literary devices. The literary devices used by Wilbur and Collins expose different meanings and two extremely different end results. Among the various literary devices used, Wilbur uses imagery, a simple rhyme scheme and meter, juxtaposition of the rational and irrational, and a humorous tone to represent the narrator’s attempt to “domesticate” irrational fears. Conversely Collins uses symbols, historical interpretations, imagery, diction and other literary devices to depict the history teacher’s effort to shield his students from reality. In the poems, “A Barred Owl,” by Richard Wilbur, and “The History Teacher,” by Billy Collins, both poets convey how adults protect and calm children from their biggest, darkest fears and curiosities.
Seedfolks is a book about family. One day, a little Vietnamese girl named Kim plants some lima beans in a vacant lot in Cleveland to honor her father who was a farmer. A neighbor notices and decides to plant her own plants. Soon, more neighbors notice and do the same. Soon, the vacant lot turns into a community garden. The people of Cleveland have to avoid their differences and come together as a family to make it successful. The book Seedfolks implies that family is the true source of love because almost everybody in the book does something to express their love through the garden. The garden becomes somewhat like a family, and brings the community together.
Nature’s beauty has the ability to both entice its audience and frighten them. Mary Oliver in her passage explains her experiences with the two sides of nature. Her experiences with the owls elicit both an awe response and a frightened one. In connection, her experiences with a field of flowers draws a similar response where she is both astonished by them and overwhelmed. Oliver’s complex responses display the two sides of nature. It's ability to be both captivating yet overwhelming in its complexity. In “Owl” Mary Oliver uses descriptions of nature demonstrated by owls and fields of flowers in order to convey her complex responses to the two sides of nature.
Stags and Hens - personal performance review Drama coursework!!! The practical piece that I performed on 16th December ‘04 was a play written by Willy Russel called ‘Stags and Hens’. It was written in 1978 and is set on a hen/stag night in Liverpool for what was at that time, the present - reading the play, however, and comparing it with the portrayal of present day Liverpool I noticed no obvious changes. Another play that I have studied is ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ by Dennis Potter.
I have recently read a book, Artemis Fowl, by Eion Colfer that I want to share with your book club. Artemis Fowl is a book that transports you to a whole new world, a world filled with fantasy and excitement. This book was published in Ireland by The Viking Press on April 26, 2001. This book’s main character is the 12 year old child genius, Artemis Fowl II, Artemis is very observant as it is made clear in the first chapter as he recognizes that a man is lying through his first meeting, in which his client comes to meet him in a waiter disguise but this cannot fool Artemis since it was quite clear to him that a waiter doesn’t have polished nails. Artemis caught his lie almost immediately, this client had made a deal with him to show him a location
The Northern Spotted Owl can only live in old growth environment, it is considered an “indicator species”: The health of the Northern Spotted Owl population indicates the health of the old-growth forest ecosystem. An individual Northern Spotted Owl needs more than 3,000 acres of old growth to survive, because of its scarce food supply. The Northern Spotted Owl is found in the cool, moist woodlands on the Pacific Northwest. The habitat of the Northern Spotted Owl can be described as trees relatively large in diameter in the stand, multi-layered canopy, large tall live trees with cavities, broken tops, mistletoe, or platforms of branches capable of holding accumulated organic matter suitable for use as a nest, dead standing trees and fallen decayed trees to support abundant populations of prey species, especially northern flying squirrels and woodrats.
The spotted owl is an eighteen-inch tall bird-of-prey that roams the thick forests of the Pacific Norwest. The adult spotted owl enjoys a life at the top of the food chain for the region. This bird has only one enemy, the logging companies that inadvertently threaten its natural habitat. Clear-cutting operations of old growth forests destroy breeding and hunting areas. Clear-cut logging is the timber industry's version of strip mining. Almost nothing remains that resembles the forest that once stood there except for thousands of tree stumps the size of Volkswagens.
Firstly, the owl is an important animal in the play because owls are night creatures.
direction, the major problem for their decline would have to be remedied – loss. of the habitat of the sailor. This fact combined with the owls' short life expectancy and late age. breeding only exacerbates the problem. When loggers remove old growth owl loses habitat for its food, housing, as well as protection from predators.
Out of the three, habitat loss is considered to be the largest threat to the Arctic Fox population. Due to rising temperatures, sea ice is not as abundant and new plant species are beginning to emerge. Sea ice is important to the Arctic Fox population because they rely on the extra space to find food and there are fewer predators (2). Because the sea ice habitat provides important winter food resources for the Arctic foxes, especially in low lemming population years, the loss of the sea-ice habitat is likely to result in lower winter survival and reproductive success for Arctic fox population. Due to the decrease in food resources, Arctic Foxes may start to wander into human settlements in search of food which will increase the chance of foxes being killed by human inhabitants. A decrease in food resources and hunting grounds is not the only issue with the loss of sea ice habitats. According to the Species Survival Commission, as ...
Owl pellets are the remains of an owl’s meal. In the owl pellet there are bone that were undigested, fur, feathers, and different types of rodents. Most owls swallow their prey whole which means they can’t digest bone that they eat so they have to ‘barf’ it up. The owl that we are studying is a Barn Owl. A barn owl is found in open grasslands and farmlands. Per season a barn owl lays about 5-11 eggs. An adult owl consumes several rodents each night. To put it into perspective a barn owl swallowing a rat is equivalent to a human swallowing a 15lb hamburger in one gulp. The size of each pellet depends on the species of the bird. About 20 hours after feeding an owl pellet is regurgitated. The purpose of this lab is to find the effects of owls
Poems have the ability to express thoughts into words. They convey messages and stories for the audience to interpret, and emotions for the audience to feel. Gwen Harwood, one of Australia’s most highly regarded poets, demonstrates sophistication and provokes emotions from the audience with descriptive use of imagery and inspiring messages in her poems. Harwood uses different methods to portray the themes of innocence, death and rebelling against authority in her poem Barn Owl. These ideas are clearly depicted through the use of literary techniques such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, imagery, direct speech and metaphors in the poem.
American Crows have a number of features that make them identifiable, and to help keep them from being confused with another member of the Corvus genus, the Common Raven (Marzluff et al., 2013). American Crows can reach a length between 17 to 21 inches, with a wingspan of 39 inches, while the Common Raven is a larger bird that has an average length of 24 inches (Burton et al. 2010; Marzluff et al, 2013). Both the American Crow and the Common Raven have black coloration, but their feathers and beaks differ. Common Ravens have a larger, stronger beak, a wedge-shaped tale, and spikey feathers on their throat. American Crows, on the other hand, have a smaller and less bulky bill, smooth throat feathers, and they have tail feathers that fan out instead of forming a wedge (Marzluff et al, 2013). The two birds have different styles of flying. A Common Raven soars in flight, but C. brachyrhynchos usually keeps flapping its wings instead of gliding (Burton et al. 2010; Marzluff et al, 2013). Finally, American Crows also have a different call than their raven counterparts: their cry is a “caw, caw” that sets its voice apart from the croaking noises ravens make (Marzluff et al, 2013...