Whooo''s Who?

With the advent of Fall leaf color, Thanksgiving pumpkins, and cold crisp weather, love is in the air here in Missouri—at least it is if you’re an owl!

If you happen to be outdoors in the evening or late at night you may hear an owl calling.  At this time of the year our feathered creatures of the night are busy claiming a territory, and soon will be advertising for a mate. 

In our last blog we posed a little owl quiz with links to some audio bites of owl calls to test your knowledge.  Here are the answers to our quiz, as well as a few facts about each of those fascinating creatures.

Each of the photos is of a resident of the World Bird Sanctuary and represents his or her species.

Owl photo collage: Gay Schroer

Photo #1 is Timber the Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio)

Photo #2 is Jake the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)

Photo #3 is Goblin the Common Barn Owl (Tyto alba)

Photo #4 is Xena the Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo)

Photo #5 is Olaf the Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus)

Photo #6 is Buzz the Tawny Owl (Strix aluco)

Photo #7 is Jersey the Barred Owl  (Strix varia)

Photo #8 is Mia the Spectacled Owl  (Pulsatrix perspicillata)

Now for the answers to our quiz:

Jersey the Barred Owl (photo: Gay Schroer)

A.            This owl’s call seems to be concerned about your dinner.  Photo #7 – Jersey the Barred Owl.  This bird’s call is said to sound like “Who, who, who cooks for-you” “Who, who, who cooks for-you-all”.  Barred owls are one of the most common owls in the Eastern U.S.  This bird is often locally referred to as a “hoot” owl.

Goblin a Common Barn Owl (photo: Gay Schroer)

B.            No wimpy hooting for this bird—it communicates with a high-pitched hissing scream.  This would be #3.  Pictured is Goblin the Common Barn Owl.  Did you know that Barn Owls are found on every continent except Antarctica?  Barn Owls have been on the endangered list here in Missouri due to habitat loss.  For a number of years WBS has been at the forefront of an effort to release captive bred Barn Owls back into the wild to bolster declining populations.

Timber, an Eastern Screech Owl (photo: Gay Schroer)

C.            Don’t let this bird’s sweet trilling call fool you—it’s a fierce little predator.  This would be #1.  Pictured here is Timber the Eastern Screech Owl. Eastern Screech Owls are generally seen in two color phases—red and grey, although there are occasionally intermediate brown shades of these two colors.  Their call is a mellow muted trill—no hooting for this bird.

Olaf, a Saw-whet Owl (photo: Gay Schroer)

D.            This owl’s call is a monotonous “hoop-hoop-hoop”, but its volume belies its diminutive size!  #5 - The Northern Saw-whet Owl has a surprisingly loud call for such a small bird.  Pictured is Olaf, a World Bird Sanctuary resident bird. When prey is plentiful, a Saw-whet Owl will kill as many as 6 mice in rapid succession, without consuming any of them. The excess food is cached in safe places and, in winter, is thawed out later by "brooding" the frozen carcass. When food is plentiful, it is common for only the head of each prey item to be eaten.

Jake, a resident Great Horned Owl (photo: Gay Schroer)

E.            The male of this species calls with a low-pitched monotone “ho ho-ho hoo hoo”, and is answered with a higher pitched “girly” version of the same call.  This would be #2, the Great-horned Owl.  Pictured is Jake, a WBS resident owl.  A Great Horned Owl is powerful enough to take prey two to three times heavier than itself.  Longevity is up to 13 years in the wild and as much as 29 to 38 years in captivity.

Mia, our beautiful Spectacled Owl (photo: Gay Schroer)

F.            This owl’s vocalization sounds like a knocking or tapping, “Pup-pup-pup-pup-o” issued in a rising crescendo.  (Hint – This owl is not native to the U.S., but you may have heard it if you’ve been to the World Bird Sanctuary’s weathering area lately.)  #8 is Mia the Spectacled Owl, and she can usually be found in the weathering area behind the WBS’s Nature Center building.  This owl hales from Mexico, Central and South America, most frequently found in dense tropical rain forests.  Once fledged, at about 5-6 weeks, the chicks depend on the parents for up to a year.

Buzz, a Tawny Owl (photo: Gay Schroer)

G.            This owl was the inspiration for the owl in the Winnie the Pooh tales and is the most common owl in Europe—especially in England.  #6 – The Eurasian Tawny Owl will usually nest in tree holes or nest boxes in trees, and pair bonds last for life.  Even though these owls are small they will defend their nest aggressively, even attacking humans on occasion if they perceive them as a threat to the nest.

Xena, everyone's favorite Eurasian Eagle Owl (photo: Gay Schroer)

H.            This owl issues a long, booming “oo-hooh”, and may even bark and growl if it feels threatened.  This would be #4 – the Eurasian Eagle Owl.  Pictured is Xena, one of our most popular resident birds.  This largest owl species eats mainly voles and rats, but has been known to take prey as large as a Roe Deer fawn.  They nest on cliff ledges, crevices between rocks, and cave entrances, although they are not above using abandoned nests of large birds. 

To meet some of these fascinating creatures, join us for an OWL PROWL  For information on WBS Owl Prowls Click Here or call 636-225-4390, Ext. 101.

Submitted by Gay Schroer, World Bird Sanctuary Volunteer

Raptors Extinct and Extant

While working at World Bird Sanctuary’s Stone Zoo bird show in Boston, I have learned to make three major distinctions indicative of raptors: excellent eyesight, strong grasping feet and a sharp, curved beak.

Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park has made Velociraptors famous, but what do these prehistoric “raptors” have in common with modern raptors? They certainly don’t have a curved sharp beak or grasping feet.

It turns out Velociraptors and other theropod dinosaurs with raptor in their name such as Oviraptor or Eoraptor aren’t even closely related.  However they are united under the Maniraptoran clade, which means “seizing hands,” a nice parallel to extant (meaning living today) raptors’ seizing feet. They are defined as being more closely related to birds than other dinosaurs.

Dromaeosaurid (photo: wikipedia by Tom Parker)

Dromaeosaurs, or “running lizards,” are a group of Maniraptors containing Velociraptors and other “true” prehistoric raptors defined by their large grasping hands, a stiffened tail and one large, slashing claw on each foot. Modern birds of the Aves class are the sister group to Dromaeosaurs. You can compare an artists’ rendition of an extinct  raptor to our extant raptor, Diablo the Tawny eagle below.

Today we have many different raptors within Aves, which belong to different groups as well. The orders Accipitriformes, Strigiformes and Falconiformes are an example of convergent evolution and each produced unique raptor species.

Accipitriformes is the most diverse raptor order consisting of many different families of eagles, hawks, harriers, kites, osprey, the secretary bird and Old World vultures.  New World vultures of the Americas are not related to Old World vultures of Africa, Europe and Asia.  They have merely evolved to fulfill similar ecological niches.

Osiris, the Egyptian Vulture is an Old World Vulture (photo: Gay Schroer)

Baton Rouge, a King Vulture, is a New World Vulture (photo: Gay Schroer)

New World vulture phylogenic placement has proven to be difficult with DNA evidence supporting their inclusion in both the bird orders of Accipitriformes and Ciconiiformes or storks. Old World vultures are true raptors, while New World vultures lack the strong grasping feet of raptors. You can make this comparison between Osiris the Egyptian vulture (Old World) and Baton Rouge the King vulture (New World) at our Stone Zoo bird show.

Riley, a Barn Owl (photo: Aurora Potts)

Strigiformes consist of two main families of owls; barn owls and typical owls. Owls are mostly nocturnal and are therefore more sound sensitive than other raptors. Barn owls belong to the family Tytonidae.  Their face is heart-shaped and their legs are longer than that of Strigidae owls. Typical owls belong to the more varied family, Strigidae. You can see these distinctions on Riley the American Barn owl and Reese the Great Horned owl at our Stone Zoo bird show.

Reese, a Great Horned Owl (photo: Aurora Potts)

Naturally, Falconiformes are falcons, which are more closely related to songbirds and parrots than they are to any other raptor (believe it or not). Falcons are the speedy and agile birds of prey that use their tomial tooth at the end of their beak to break their prey’s spine. You can see the notch that is the tomial tooth on this Peregrine falcon on exhibit at Stone Zoo.

A Peregrine Falcon on exhibit at Stone Zoo

Even though extinct and extant raptors are hardly related, you can see all these fascinating predators possess many adaptations.   Their unique characteristics allow for a wide variety of species to share the generally speedy seizing and grasping raptorial name in prehistoric times and up to modern day.

Submitted by Aurora Potts, Naturalist/Trainer for World Bird Sanctuary’s Stone Zoo Show

Overly Outstanding Owls

Anyone who knew me before my internship at World Bird Sanctuary knows that I absolutely love owls.  Anyone who met or spoke to me after the start of my internship knows that my all time favorite bird is Tigger, the Tawny Owl.

Many people love owls because they are adorable, which is completely true.  However, they are also amazing creatures!  For example, owls can turn their heads 270 degrees around.  This  enables them to look over their right shoulder, completely behind them, and then over their left shoulder in the same glance! 

Most owl species have fringing on their outer wing feathers, which muffles air flowing over their wings and gives them silent flight.  This makes it much easier to sneak up on their prey. 

Cupid the Barn Owl steals everyone's heart

One truly remarkable owl species is the Barn Owl.  You can find videos of these amazing birds online that demonstrate just how incredible these birds really are.  One such video that I found demonstrates just how incredible a Barn Owl's sense of hearing truly is.  The one in the video is trained that a certain sound leads to food and is trained to find the source of the sound.  You can see that the sound device is placed in an area of tall grass where it is not visible. As soon as the sound is made the owl flies directly to the source. In slow motion, you can see the owl's head is completely locked right on target the entire time. These birds are some of the best hunters I have ever seen. 

Peabody the Tawny Owl waiting for his cue to fly onstage (photo: Mike Cerutti)

Many people, myself included, love Tawny Owls because they are so adorable.  However, these birds are considered a prey species.  Tawny Owls share habitat with the second largest owl species, the Eurasian Eagle Owl.  Because of this, Tawny Owls are known to be quite aggressive.  These birds will chase larger birds and animals from their territory. People who have hobbies like bird watching and wildlife photography will actually avoid Tawny Owl territory during breeding season.  These owls have been known to fly after people, as well as other predators, to flush them out of the Tawny Owl territory.

I have been able to witness some of these adaptations this summer while working at WBS’s Stone Zoo bird show in Boston.  We have two great owls with us--Cupid, the Barn Owl, and Peabody, the Tawny Owl. 

Don't let Tigger's sleepy demeanor fool you--Tawny Owls can be fierce

There are many more amazing adaptations and traits of owls that I enjoy learning about every day that I work with these birds.

If you live in or are visiting the Boston area this summer, be sure to schedule a visit to Stone Zoo—and in particular, the bird show.  I think you will agree with me that these beautiful creatures are amazing!

Submitted by Jamie Cobetto, World Bird Sanctuary Stone Zoo Birds of Prey Show Trainer/Naturalist

(photo: Flannery O'brien)

Birdy, It's Cold Outside

Recently I went to get my eyes checked and had a very enjoyable chat with my optometrist. She had recently visited World Bird Sanctuary, loved it and was curious as to how the birds were handling the cold weather. I realized that others might have the same question, so I decided to write my blog about our birds and the cold.

Peabody, the Tawny Owl, is native to Europe, where members of his species thrive in cold conditions.

Most of the birds that are on our display line in the winter are adapted for cold weather. They are either native to Missouri or even more extreme climates. Some species that are not native to Missouri can remain on our display line throughout the winter with additional wind protection or building shelters and providing them with heat lamps. Other species that are from warmer climates, such as the Brown Pelicans, move indoors for the winter and move back out once it warms up. Every now and then we need to bring birds indoors for the very cold spells, such as that week when we hit negative temperatures, but in general if a bird is out on our display line it is because it is adapted for the cold.

Ookpik the Snowy Owl - well-adpated to the cold.

How exactly are the birds adapted for the cold, you might ask. The short answer is feathers! Yes, those wonderful things that allow birds to fly also allow birds to live pretty much anywhere. Feathers have the highest insulation quality of any substance known to humans. You are probably familiar with this if you own a down comforter or jacket. You know that warm toasty feeling you have when bundled up? The temperature difference between the outside and the inside of the feather coat of a song bird can be one hundred degrees. Due to this amazing insulation birds from warmer climates tend to have more skin exposed to aid in heat exchange. Unfortunately that extra exposure means that in Missouri those particular birds are at risk of frostbite, hence why we need to move them indoors. The birds native to colder environments tend to have more feathers. For example Golden Eagles, which are found in the Northern Hemisphere have feathers all the way to the tops of their feet. These extra feathers keep their legs warm, as well as protecting them from the bites of their prey. Golden Eagles are members of the group of eagles called booted eagles, which also include Tawny Eagles. Snowy owls, native to the tundra not only have feathers on their feet, but also on the bottoms of their feet. Since Snowy owls are ground nesters, this helps to protect their feet from the snow and frozen ground. Even when it snows birds are not as affected as we are due to the feather’s structure. Feathers are made up of barbs and empty spaces between them called touch points. These suspend water away from the feather preventing it from soaking into the feather and the bird’s skin. Feathers are not the only “winterizing” on a bird of prey.

Golden Eagles are 'booted eagles' - an important factor in helping them to keep warm.

The scales on a bird’s feet also play an incredibly important role. These scales form in layers and depending on the species can be incredibly thick and act as built in snow boots causing ice to flake off rather than sticking to the bird and leading to frostbite. Bald eagles have these thick scales as well as feathers that stop before the tops of the feet, preventing feathers from freezing when they fish in icy water.

Bald Eagle feet have thick scales to help deal with the cold.

Birds, especially birds of prey, have a number of adaptations to help them keep warm. We make sure all of our birds are comfortable during these cold spells, whether that means keeping them indoors, or letting their natural adaptations take care of it. In fact during these cold spells, our birds probably feel even warmer than we feel!

Submitted by: Leah Tyndall, Trainer

Working The Kinks Out

Along with three other staff members, I spent the past summer in Boston, MA presenting World Bird Sanctuary’s Masters of Flight bird of prey show at Stone Zoo.  This show is a free flight demonstration as well as a demonstration of the birds’ natural behaviors.

Oracle--an Augur Buzzard

As part of our team we had nineteen birds, and of those nineteen we had two rookies-birds that had never been in WBS education programs.  We had Oracle, a one-year-old African Augur Buzzard and Peabody, a European Tawny Owl who is about three.

Peabody--a Tawny Owl

At first there can be many challenges when young birds are learning to fly in shows.  For one thing, they are uncoordinated in some respects.  From what I had seen and heard they often have a hard time landing on the glove.  Sometimes, when they come in to land, the momentum they’ve built keeps them going right off the other side of the glove.  Oracle didn’t have too rough of a time with that, but it was a bigger problem for Peabody. Eventually, with practice and experience, they got the hang of it.

Another challenge we ran into is that very often the birds are afraid of things they didn’t experience as they grew up at WBS.  Of course, this makes sense because these things are unnatural to them and they don’t know what the object will do.  Wheeled objects like strollers, and wheelchairs, are particularly scary.  They don’t know that the stroller isn’t going to eat them; they just know that it’s strange and scary and they want to get away from it. 

Peabody making his St. Louis debut at Open House

Throughout the season we learn more about each bird and what makes that individual bird frightened or uncomfortable.  Then we do our best to slowly acclimate each bird to these scary things, especially the ones we know they will see a lot.  This allows for the birds to be as comfortable as possible and for us to present the best show possible.  It’s kind of a learning experience for both the birds and the trainers.

With time and patience the kinks get worked out and the show is great.  All in all I would say that we--humans and birds--had a great season.  We learned a lot and had a great time doing it.

Submitted by Jaimie Sansoucie, World Bird Sanctuary, Seasonal Staff Member

Adopt A Bird Spotlight: Tigger (Tawny Owl)

Tigger's Story

Species:  Tawny Owl

Hatched:  1992

Tigger was sent to the World Bird Sanctuary from another center in 1992.  He had been injured as a young chick and was unreleasable.  Tigger loves mice and venison, and is known to call in public, even during the day.  

This medium sized round owl (just over one foot tall) is native to Britain and much of Europe.  They live in woods and open areas with large trees for perching.  With the loss of much of their rural habitat, tawny owls are moving into cities and suburbs.  Their hunting techniques seem to be changing with their new environment, and it is hoped that these adaptations will allow them to survive where other species have failed.  Even though Tigger is considered sweet and easy going by his handlers, his species as a whole can also be fierce little hunters.

Tigger can often be seen in the education portion of our Owl Prowl programs, where he frequently exhibits his willingness to hoot in public.

To adopt Tigger, simply click our donation button, make a donation of $75, and specify in your payment notes:  Adopt-a-Bird: TIGGER.  Also include your name, phone number, and mailing address so that we can send your adoption materials!

Every donation helps to feed, house, and provide medical care for the bird of your choice!  Adopt-A-Bird Parents receive:

* A personal visit with the bird you adopt!!!!!  Call 636-861-3225 to set up a time for your 

personal visit.

* Certificate of Adoption

* Color photo of the bird you've adopted

* Sponsorship Card

* One year's subscription to Mews News (our quarterly newsletter)

* Life History and Natural History of the bird

* 10% Discount off WBS merchandise

* Invitation to Sponsors-only events like Camera Day

* Discounts on WBS Special Events

* WBS Decal

Natural History

tawny owl

Strix aluco

Description:  plumage is chestnut brown, heavily mottled with grey, brown and black streaks; face is round with deep-set black eyes; plumage pattern gives this bird a blocky, thick-set look; like the American Barred Owl to which it is related, it lacks ear tufts

Sex:  male and female similar in appearance; females slight larger than males

Length:  12-15"

Wingspan:  36-42"

Weight:  14-20 oz.

Habitat:  mostly woodlands, parks, and recently, urban areas

Status:  most common and widespread owl in Europe

Range:  with the exception of Ireland, distributed across Europe from Britain to Scandinavia; into North Africa; North and West Asia

Behavior:  territorial owls that use the same range through their lives; almost exclusively nocturnal, it hunts by swooping down on it's prey from a perch from which it may locate it's prey with it's keen hearing; males and females bond for life; the female lays 2-4 eggs in March or early April, in a hole in a tree or an abandoned nest; the female incubates the young while the male hunts, and feeds the brood for about 21 days; then both parents feed the chicks; the young owlets leave the nest at 32-37 days and scramble around on nearby branches (at this point they are known as "branchers"); by 2 months old they are flying and beginning to hunt for themselves; by 3 months they are independent and begin to disperse

Diet:  small mammals and rodents, small birds, frogs, fish, insects and worms

Vocalization:  the normal call is a duet:  the female calls "To-whit", to which the male replies "To-woo"; another call heard primarily in the fall is a loud "kee-wick"

• This owl is so popular in Great Britain that it makes an appearance in many pieces of English literature, including "Winnie the Pooh" and the "Harry Potter" books

How They Grow - Tawny Owls

This little owl is so popular in Great Britain that it makes an appearance in many pieces of English literature--the most well known being "Winnie the Pooh" and the "Harry Potter" books.

Above you see our Tawny Owl baby at 7 days old.

This photo, taken at 30 days, shows a remarkable change in appearance.  He (she) is already showing characteristics of the beautiful little bird he will become

At 43 days our little baby is assuming the rounded, blocky shape, by which his species is generally described.  I personally think he looks  like a kid who's been caught in the act, and is saying "Who me?"  

In the wild he would now be scrambling around on branches near the nest, beginning to explore his world, although his parents would still be feeding him.

At 58 days you can see that our little character is beginning to get some of his adult plumage, even though he is still quite fuzzy.

As you can see, at 64 days he now has most of his adult feathers, even though there is still some down left.  In the wild he would be flying and beginning to hunt for himself.

At three months (about 90 days), he would be independent and he and his siblings would be starting to disperse.  

This photo is Tigger, our resident adult Tawny Owl.

Isn't it an incredible transformation from photo #1 to this beautiful, amazing creature in such a short time?

TO SEE TIGGER AND SOME OF HIS FRIENDS IN PERSON, JOIN US FOR ONE OF OUR SEVEN REMAINING OWL PROWLS!

Owl Prowls begin at 7 p.m. and last approximately 1-1/2 hour.  The first half hour is held inside our Nature Center where you will meet several of our owls close up and our Naturalists will teach participants how to  "hoot".  We will then proceed outside and walk the trails of our grounds, while attempting to coax our local owls to return our "hoots".

For more Owl Prowl information, or to Make a Reservation, call 636-225-4390, Ext. 0.

Cost for this entertaining and informative program is:  $9.00 for adults and $7.00 for children.

How they grow…

Tawny Owl
Family Strigidae, Strix aluco

Tawny owls are medium sized owls found in Europe and Asia. They prefer to live in woods and open areas with large trees for perching. Their call is the famous "to-Wit, to-Woo."

With the loss of much of their rural habitat, tawny owls are moving into cities and suburbs. Their hunting techniques have changed with their new environment. One new technique involves landing on a branch and then slowly walking sideways along the limb until it is next to a sleeping songbird. One quick snatch, and the owl has a meal! Pretty sneaky…

These pictures chart the growth of tawny owl chicks from 7 to 64 days. They were taken by our friend and photographer Gay Schroer. Hmm…which is cuter, the tawny owl or the Eurasian eagle owl? (see post: March 23rd )

7 days

30 days

43 days

58 days

64 days