With its heavily streaked chest, tuftless head and big black eyes, Nyx, the Barred Owl that recently made a guest appearance at Fulmar Road Elementary, was quite the celebrity.
Patrick Harmon, a naturalist from the Center for Environmental Education at PNW BOCES, visited second graders with his avian friend and talked about the special features and adaptations of birds. In addition to meeting Nyx in person, students explored a variety of feathers, beaks, talons and preserved bird specimens.
“My aunt has a chicken,” said a student named Emily looking at a photo of a chicken on the board. “It can’t fly but it jumped all the way over me!”
By swinging a hawk feather on a rope, Harmon illustrated the whirring noise it made. This was in stark contrast to the owl feather, which made no sound. That is because among the many adaptations of the Barred Owl are its feathers, which enable silent flight. This makes it easier for the owl to capture prey who do not hear it coming.
“Be very quiet, her hearing is so sensitive that she can hear our heartbeats,” Harmon said, when he brought Nyx out to meet the students.
At certain frequencies, the hearing of a Barred Owl is 10 times more sensitive than human hearing. Other features of the owl include its disc-shaped head and the asymmetrical placement of its ears, both of which contribute to the bird’s incredible hearing.
The students restrained their excitement at the sight of the majestic bird, making only a few gasps when they saw her. The Birds of Prey workshop, one of many environmental conservation lessons presented to Mahopac students each year, takes classroom learning a step further.
“We can show pictures and PowerPoints all day and the students like that,” Harmon said. “But seeing a real animal has a completely different value for students and makes the lesson much more real.”
For those interested in how Nyx came to be part of the Environment Education Center, Harmon explained that the bird was injured by a car many years ago and could not be released into the wild due to permanent injuries. Now she helps educate students like the ones at Fulmar Road Elementary about the natural world.
