Thursday, March 27, 2008 7:38 PM CDT
When it comes to owls, the eyes have it
By the Associated Press
They hunt silently and rarely are seen by humans. Many associate them with death or evil forces. Others see them as wise and all-knowing.
And it sure is funny to see their heads swivel nearly 180 degrees.
Who?
Owls.
They’re not only curious; they’re the source of great curiosity from humans.
“A lot of those ignorant beliefs have evolved,” said John Mullen, assistant chief naturalist at Forest Park Nature Center and a board member of the Peoria Audubon Society. “Now owls are recognized as not only a fascinating animal with certain attributes that make it so great for what it does, but there’s a little mystery to it, too. Because it’s at night, people are curious about it. Our Owl Prowls here are very popular. We get repeat people who come time and again.”
Although Owl Prowl participants often brave winter weather just to exchange owl hoots and maybe see a silhouette or dimly lighted view of a barred owl — or no owl at all, depending on their luck — many take a permanent liking to the birds of prey.
“People get fascinated by them,” Mullen said. “It’s that interest of something you don’t get to experience all that often. You can come down here and see wild turkeys or deer just about every day. How often do you get to see an owl in the wild? And it’s not always successful. It becomes an adventure. You traipse out into the wild and you hoot and you see what happens.”
The snowy owl and northern saw-whet are sometimes seen in Illinois. Short-eared and barn owls are Illinois endangered species, with the latter not found around Peoria. Some winters, including this one, short-eared owls can be seen hovering and swooping down on prey at Banner Marsh.
The three most common owls in central Illinois are the great horned, barred and screech. All three are perch hunters, meaning that they sit on a tree branch and wait for a rodent or other prey to move on the ground below before attacking.
People living in an urban area are unlikely to see any owl other than the screech, which weighs only a few ounces and has a wingspan of about 20 inches. The screech is the most comfortable around humans, but only to a point.
“That one’s adapted pretty well to our urban-suburban environment,” Mullen said. “You can get those in your backyard. It doesn’t take a very big tree, and they’ll nest in old woodpecker holes. They’re quite territorial to their nests. If you have a screech owl nesting nearby, enjoy it from a distance. They are so territorial that when they are nesting there have been reports of them attacking a human — not because they’re malicious, but only because they’re protecting their young.
“We had a woman call and she had gotten hit in the head with talons. It swooped down and hit her with its talons, and she had to get stitches. That was in a rural area on the edge of Peoria.”
The great horned and barred grow larger, up to four pounds or more and with a wingspan that can sometimes exceed 4 feet, and prefer more forested areas where they hunt rodents, insects, amphibians, lizards and even other birds.
The Wildlife park takes in many injured owls, almost always from encounters with cars.
“On the forms we get it’s HBC — hit by car,” said Bonnie Cannon, Wildlife’s education director. “Everybody knows what it means. They don’t have peripheral vision, and owls have a very flat face. Their eyes are right on the front of their face. Without peripheral vision and without the ability to turn their eyes, they focus on their food and fly straight toward it. Cars sound like the wind, and they’re not going to turn to look at the wind.”
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