No Need to Visit Hogwarts to Learn About Owls --
Visit Alabama’s own "Owlery" at The Wildlife Center
Contact:
Beverly Crider
The Wildlife Center
205.663.7930
Media@awrc.org
July 25, 2005
When Harry Potter wants to visit his Snowy Owl, Hedwig, he can generally find him in the Hogwarts Owlery on top of the West Tower. Hundreds of owls of every breed imaginable nestle there as they await the return of their student companions. Alabama students who have not received an invitation to Hogwarts can visit their own owlery of sorts at The Wildlife Center, located at Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham.
The Wildlife Center, Alabama’s oldest and largest wildlife rehabilitation center, currently has 22 owls in its care and is awaiting the hatching of 2 more. It is rare for a Snowy Owl such as Hedwig to find her way this far south, but the Center’s roster does include eight Barn Owls (plus 2 eggs), seven Barred Owls, four Great Horned Owls, and three Screech Owls (relatives of Percy’s beloved "Hermes").
The Wildlife Center, a non-profit organization, is open daily to the public for free, self-guided tours. The Center’s Treetop Nature Trail features a beautiful, elevated walkway in the woods that offers close-up views of non-releasable hawks and owls in natural habitat enclosures built among and around the trees.
The Wildlife Center also offers special guided tours and birthday party packages featuring resident Barred Owl, Coosa, who lives in the Raptor Wing of The Wildlife Center. Coosa was approximately four to five weeks old, still covered with soft grey down, when he fell from his nest near Montevallo. A passer-by saw the little owl being savagely attacked by Crows. When he brought it to the Wildlife Center, the owlet was weak and shivering, with a deep wound extending from its thigh to its abdomen. Warmth and fluids gave immediate comfort and a month of twice daily medical treatments helped bring the young owl back to a more stable condition.
Coosa’s wound gradually healed, but the extensive loss of muscle tissue, which had been damaged and required removal during the healing process, had weakened the leg too much for life in the wild. Because of his calm and gentle temperament, Coosa quickly learned to perch on a gloved hand and has become one of the Center’s "Education Birds" along with Mississippi Kite, Natchez, to help staff educate visitors of all ages about the wonders of Alabama's native wildlife. Guided tours and birthday parties to meet Coosa can be arranged by appointment.
Owls are the primary means of personal communication in Harry Potter’s world. No cell phones or web surfing will be found at Hogwarts. Messages are tied to the leg of the owl or he carries the item in his talons or beak. Through the magic of Harry’s world, owls always find their letters’ recipients, but the exceptional vision and hearing of owls can’t hurt in the process. While our owls may have to make do without the magic of Hogwarts, they do very well in the departments of sight and sound -- although, they probably are not the ideal candidates for the Postal Service.
Vision in owls is extraordinarily keen. The eyes are very large, but they are fixed in the head, and can't be rolled as a human’s can. Instead, an owl has the ability to rotate its head on its neck for about 270 degrees, or about three fourths of a full circle. Owls' eyes are placed in the front of the head, and have a total field of view of about 60 to 70 degrees in front of them. To get a better look at an object, they will move the entire head up and down or from side to side, which may look quite comical.
Owls can see in the daytime -- the Short-Eared, Barred and Snowy owls hunt on cloudy days. The opaque nictitating membrane or third eyelid is well developed to protect the highly sensitive retina of owls' eyes from the bright light of day. Most owl activity, however, occurs at dusk or after dark. Owls' eyes are especially sensitive to light, and even the pale light of moon and stars provide enough light for hunting and flying.
Hearing in owls is highly developed. Large openings in the side of the head are set asymmetrically so that it takes slightly longer for sound to reach one ear or the other. The owl has the ability to triangulate on the sound in order to locate its prey at night. Barn Owls can do this in complete darkness, but Barred Owls do not have this ability. The soft, deep feathers of the facial disk collect and focus the sound waves.
While the owls of Harry’s world may be able to control the power exerted by their talons and beaks in the delivery of mail, this is one area that would surely be a deal-breaker for the Postal Service of our world. The talons and beaks of owls are sharp and curved to aid in capturing their prey and tearing the meat. Small prey may be swallowed whole. Some owls, such as the Great Horned Owl, have an extremely strong grip. The Barred Owl eats much smaller prey, and has a somewhat less strong grip, but all predatory birds should be respected, because they can inflict serious damage if threatened. The feet, not the beak, are their main weapons of defense. The sharp talons can lock on, and struggling only makes the grip tighten.
Like all migratory birds, owls are protected by federal law, and it is illegal to shoot or otherwise harm them. Keeping any wild bird as a pet is also a federal offense. The Wildlife Center has special permits to rehabilitate wildlife. The Center holds a separate permit in order to keep education birds Coosa and Natchez on-site to help teach Alabamians to understand and appreciate native wildlife. These permits are only issued to educational institutions with approved facilities.
For more information about owls and other wildlife native to Alabama, visit the Center’s website at www.awrc.org. To schedule a guided tour of the facility or to book your own "Harry Potter" Birthday Package, call 205-663-7930. If you find an injured wild animal, please call the Center’s Wildlife Emergency Hotline at 205-621-3333.
The Wildlife Center is a nonprofit organization and receives no public funds.
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SIDEBAR: Basic Owl Facts
BARRED OWLS
The Barred Owl is the "hoot owl" of the swamps, bottomlands, hammocks and lake borders of Alabama, but the birds may be present in almost any woodlands, including suburban parks and wooded backyards, where they will nest by preference in a hollow tree. The Barred Owl gets its name from the transverse brown bars on the head and chest, which contrast with the vertical brown streaks on the belly. A valuable predator, the barred owl eats small mammals such as rodents, large insects, frogs, snakes and other cold-blooded animals.
GREAT HORNED OWL
The most powerful and aggressive of North American owls, the Great Horned Owl dominates the wildlife community in which it lives. This highly adaptable species is equally at home in deep forest, open country, or in city parks and golf courses, where rats, mice, squirrels and chipmunks are its main prey, although it can take animals up to the size of a skunk. Great Horned Owls are known to be nesting in a number of residential neighborhoods and parks around Birmingham. The "horns" are actually tufts of feathers which break up the bird’s outline and allow it to blend in with its surroundings.
SCREECH OWL
The Screech Owl is one of the smallest of Alabama’s native owls, and is also one of the most common. However, because they are so good at concealing themselves, they are rarely seen. These small, chunky birds have tufts of feathers on their heads that help to break up the silhouette. In the daytime, they perch in a sheltered spot where they are easily overlooked. Screech Owls come in two color phases -- a soft, mottled grey, and a rusty red. Both colors help in concealing these shy nocturnal creatures during daylight hours. The call of the Screech Owl is not a screech, but a plaintive descending trill.
Screech Owls may be found year-around in Alabama, in open hardwood forests, and even in suburban areas where natural habitat remains. They nest in holes in dead trees, usually making use of old woodpecker cavities. Their diet includes mice and other small mammals, as well as beetles, grasshoppers, and many other kinds of insects. Birds, small snakes and lizards, and even fish, may also be captured and eaten.
