Owlology 101

This is a poem I wrote last year for my grand children....one loves bird...future ornithologist, maybe? Owls belong to one of two different families or classes, Even though there are more than 216 types in their masses, The barn owl - 18 different ones, are in one class by themselves The other 198 are true owls, including the little elf- You can tell to which family an owl belongs, in several different ways, All barn owls are nocturnal but some true owls awaken during the day, Barn owls have heart shaped faces - true owls faces are round, True owls have ear tufts - on barn owls these can’t be found- These beautiful creatures are called birds of prey or raptors, And most of them play the survival role in life as captors, Sharp beaks, sharp talons, a “parliament” if in a group together, They live everywhere on earth, regardless of the weather- Owls have poor vision when looking at things near, But in low light or at a distance, their vision is exceptionally clear, Their eyeballs are fixed - they look straight ahead to see, That's why they can rotate their heads, a full 270 degrees- There's no denying that an owl hears better than us, More acute at certain frequencies, the slightest movement even on dust, The disc shaped face is not a face alone, but more a radar dish instead, With ear openings behind the eyes and asymmetrically on its head- Camouflaged with muted feathers of white, gray, tan and black, An owl blends into its environment just before an attack, With softened edges on its' feathers, this silent killer flies undetected, Swooping down upon its prey with presence unexpected- Owls make all different kinds of sounds, resonating soft or loud, It depends on what vocal cords, with which they’ve been endowed, True owls hoot, whistle, trill, and can produce a melodic, pretty sound, Barn owls have a raspy screech with sounds that are quite profound- The elf owl is the smallest – the size of a small sparrow bird, It will take flight to escape a fight, because peace is what it prefers, When threatened it plays dead, then feeling safe, will fly away and GO, Weighing about an ounce and a half, it lives in cacti or a tree hole- The Blakiston’s Fish Owl is over ten pounds, the heaviest owl you can find, The powerful Great Horned has no predators, except for its own kind, The Great Grey is the longest, three feet total in length - that’s tall, And the Eagle Owl has a wing span over six feet - the widest of them all- The Snowy Owl in Harry Potter is an owl that ‘s totally white, It is diurnal in nature - meaning it's active both day and night, Its low-pitched hooting sounds can be heard from six miles away, And it prefers eating arctic lemmings - from three to five a day! OWLOLOGY 101 STUDENTS: Hope you've learned a thing or two- There's much more to an owl than just a simple WHO-O-O!