Who knew owls are cool?

Article Date: 2006-11-19   Source: http://www.ydr.com   Comments: 0

By Joel Berg

York, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. - The sound of owls sometimes spooked 90-year-old Mary Achaj.

However, she had never seen one of the predatory birds up close. On Thursday, Achaj saw three of them: a great horned owl, a barn owl and a small screech owl.

''I thought that little bitty one was the prettiest little thing,'' Achaj said.

The birds were visiting Country Meadows of York in West Manchester Township, where Achaj lives. About 50 people looked on as the birds' handlers talked about everything from what owls eat to when they sleep.

"How long do they usually live?" someone asked.

Only the strongest owls survive their first winter, a time when food is scarce, said Beth Lancione, the handler for the great horned owl. If they make it through the cold, great horned owls in the wild might live up to 12 years, Lancione said.

The three owls that visited Country Meadows are permanent residents of Rehabitat, a nonprofit organization in Dillsburg that rehabilitates injured birds of prey and attempts to release them back into the wild.

Not every bird can return.

The great horned owl and the screech owl were injured too badly by cars to continue hunting on their own, their handlers said.

Owls, which hunt at night, have sharp eyesight and hearing. But they might not think to focus on, or react to, the sound of an oncoming vehicle, Lancione said.

The barn owl was raised by people and became too close to them to survive in the wild.

Barn owls used to be fairly common in Pennsylvania, said Casey Reeder, a handler from Rehabitat. But, the species has dwindled as its main habitats - barns and fields - disappear.

Also, barn owls are picky eaters that dine only on mice and field voles. The latter have declined in number because of changes in farming practices, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The commission is making efforts to bolster the state's barn owl population.

Great horned owls, on the other hand, are doing OK, Lancione said. They will eat mice, rats, squirrels and even skunks. Owls can't smell, she said.

Rehabitat typically makes presentations before scout and school groups, said Lancione. Country Meadows might be the first retirement community the group has visited, she said.

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