Happy New Year 1-4

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Happy New Year 1-4

• Today
• Start mini-unit on owls
• Mid term after owl test

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Owls

• Mini-before-Christmas Unit

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General Info

• Owls fill the niche at night which would be
  occupied by hawks in daytime
• Niche role organism plays in the environment
• Dont build nests use old crow or hawk nests
• Diet mice, rats, birds, insects, etc
• Spend day in covered areas

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General Info

• Over 200 species of owls
• 8 can be found in PA

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Hatching

• Eggs are not laid at the same time and thus do
  not hatch at same time
• Why could this be a useful adaptation?
• If enough food, all chicks survive
• If not enough food, ensures oldest will be strong
  and survive (youngest chicks die)
• Owl Chicks
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vUGShADzKjTIfeature
  related

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Eyesight

• Very large eyes
• Sight 50-100 x better at locating small objects
  in low light than humans
• So, in their eyes they must have more
• Rods cells that gather light in the eye
• Cones cells that gather color
• Eyes fixed in skull cant move them
• Twist head to look aroundsome up to 270 degrees

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Warm Up 1-5

• What is a niche?
• Today
• Talons, Leading edge of wings, etc

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Males vs. Females

• Female birds of prey tend to be larger than the
  males
• (same is true for many reptiles)

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Talons

• Have large sharp talons used to kill prey
• Two talons will face backwards and 2 forwards to
  grab prey

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Wings

• Leading edge of the wing are serrated to help
  muffle the sound of flight.
• (Start about 330)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vxJNRFxL3moM

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Hearing

• Face is shaped like a disc to funnel sound
• Many species of owls have asymmetrical ears
• Allows them to locate prey more efficiently, even
  if they cant see it
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vyps7pgq1TAk

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Warm Up 1-6

• How do asymmetrical ears help an owl locate prey?
• Today
• Owl puke
• Finish movie

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Hunting

• Mostly sit and wait predator
• Wait on tree until prey is located

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Warm Up 1-7

• Why do we study owl pellets?
• Today
• Owl Pellet Lab
• Quiz on Owl information tomorrow Review sheet
  due

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Owl Puke

• Owls regurgitate prey remains called a pellet
  (or a bolus)
• Swallow prey whole they cannot digest hair,
  fur, nails, etc
• These can be studied to determine the owls diet
• Owl Puking (105)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vwaLiTmLr1nMfeature
  related
• http//video.google.com/videosearch?qowl20pellet
  ieutf-8oeutf-8rlsorg.mozillaen-USofficial
  clientfirefox-aum1saNtabwv
• Owl Pellet
• http//www.pond5.com/stock-footage/96545/owl-pelle
  t.html

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Quiz! 1-11

• Quiz
• Review sheets due

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Owl Pellet Lab

• Work in teams of 2-3
• Need 2 pieces of paper
• One to break apart the pellet
• One to place the bones
• Your goal is to determine the identity of the
  organisms in the owl pellet using the bone key in
  the packet
• The data table and lab questions should also be
  completed

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Owl Prey

• Voles
• Resemble mouse shorter hairy tail
• Stouter body
• Moles (not owl prey)
• Spend most of life underground
• Very underdeveloped eyes

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• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vUGShADzKjTIfeature
  related hissing chick
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vxJNRFxL3moM - owl
  general info wing serrations
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vyps7pgq1TAk
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vyps7pgq1TAkfeature
  fvw prey under snow
• http//video.google.com/videosearch?qowl20pellet
  ieutf-8oeutf-8rlsorg.mozillaen-USofficial
  clientfirefox-aum1saNtabwv - owl pellet
  breaking it apart
• http//www.pond5.com/stock-footage/96545/owl-pelle
  t.html - owl puking
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJVSXQKmL6ZMfeature
  related owl eating mouse