Thank you Mac and Dave for sharing your birds

In Science, we have been studying adaptations of plants and animals that live on land for the last several weeks.  We have focused on animals from many different biomes and students have been doing research on desert animals for our zoo design project.  It has been interesting, but today we had visitors who really showed us what adaptations are all about.

Mac and David Lindenthal-Cox are local falconers (Mac is a former Forest Grove Falcon). They brought two beautiful birds to share with us today.  First, we met their American Kestrel.  I think everyone was surprised by how small this beautiful little bird was.  Students were very interested to learn that she can eat prey that weighs more than she does.  We learned that one of the reasons she can do that is because she has a special little growth on her beak.  We also saw that she has markings on the back of her head that look like eyes.  These are to scare off predators who might want to eat her.

This American Kestrel is less than a year old.  They know she is a female because she is mostly brown; the males have a lot more blue on them.  The Lindenthal-Cox's are helping to teach her how to hunt so that she has a greater chance of surviving in the wild.  She will be released after a relatively short time.

Next, they showed us a Harris's Hawk.  The class stayed very quiet while this much larger bird got used to the classroom environment.  They even stayed pretty quiet when she opened her wings, which was difficult because students were surprised by her wingspan.  One of the other things students commented on were her imposing looking talons.  They look very strong and sharp.  The Lindenthal-Cox's have had this bird for two years and it will not be released into the wild because it has always been around people.

Mrs. Newman even got to hold the Harris's Hawk. She is a lot lighter than she looks, only about 2 pounds.

It was a very interesting afternoon.  We want to say a big thank you to the Lindenthal-Cox's.  There is nothing better than having experts share their knowledge with the class.