As promised, we welcomed two very special visitors at Playcare today; our good friend Miss Michelle, from HOPE Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Spencer, the Barred Owl! Miss Michelle began our lesson with a few bird puppets, to help us learn all about the birds we see everyday. We learned about Woodpeckers and how they live in a hole in a tree. We learned about Northern Cardinals and how the feathers on the top of their heads are called tufts. We learned about Eastern Bluebirds a...nd how they like to make their nests in man-made houses. We learned about Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and how their wings beat 80 times a second. Best of all, we learned about Owls, with a little help from Spencer! We learned that owls are nocturnal, that they use sound to triangulate their prey as they hunt, that they have 14 vertebrae in their neck, compared to our 7, that they have hooked beaks they use like we use knives and forks, that they grind their food in their gizzard and spit out the left over bone and fur, that they have sharp talons they use to catch their food and that they are from a family of birds called Birds-of-Prey. We also learned about Miss Michelle's job as a wildlife rehabilitator; rescuing and taking care of sick and injured birds until they are strong enough to be released back into the wild. Thank you Miss Michelle and Spencer for visiting us and taking the time to teach us about the birds we see around us everyday!
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