Friday, June 1, 2007 Foster's Online
By MICHAEL GOOT Portsmouth Bureau Chief
John Huff/Staff photographer.
Laura Scally, 6, gets an up-close-and-personal view of a corn snake held by Amy Titcomb of the York Center for Wildlife during a presentation hosted by the Kittery Trading Post on Monday.
KITTERY, Maine - Although many people think an owl can rotate its head 360 degrees, that piece of information is simply a myth.
Owls can only rotate their heads about 270 degrees - about three-quarters of the way - said Amy Titcomb, a rehabilitation supervisor for The Center for Wildlife in York, Maine. They are more flexible because they have 14 bones in their neck as compared with seven in humans. Also, moving the neck is the only way they can see around them, Titcomb said.
"Their eyes are stuck in place," she said.
Titcomb shared all sorts of tidbits of information at a hands-on demonstration Monday at Kittery Trading Post. Children also had a chance to see a hawk, turtles and corn snake, as well as touch turtle shells, raptor wings, talons and snake skin.
Titcomb also told the audience that if they see a bird without its mother, they should not assume that the parent has died.
Often, the mother bird goes away for extended periods to find food. Raptors, which include hawks, eagles, vultures, falcons and ospreys, all eat meat. They use their claws to catch their prey.
"This is like their fork and knife," she said.
John Huff/Staff photographer.
Amy Titcomb of the York Center for Wildlife handles a barred owl during a presentation hosted by the Kittery Trading Post on Monday.
Birds often get injured by cars or by flying into windows. She showed off a type of hawk called kestrel.
It is somewhat difficult to determine if one is a boy or girl but female birds have a red back and males have a blue/gray color on their back.
This kestrel is named Savannah and came to the center from Arizona. More than 1,500 animals are brought to the center each year suffering from infection, illness or injury.
"We do our best to make them better and then release them back into the wild," Titcomb said.
Titcomb said this event is a good way the center can connect with children, who are always curious about animals.
"It's surprising how much they know from Discovery Channel," she said.
Julie-Lynn Belon, special events and promotions manager with Kittery Trading Post, said the store figured this would be a perfect event for Memorial Day.
Four-year-old Samuel Burnham of Boxford, Mass. said his favorite animal is a tiger.
"Because they bite, because they run fast. I run and I'm king of the jungle," he said.
|
