Birds Of Prey
On Tuesday May 24th we had special visitors "Birds Of Prey" with Sam and Ann from Navan, Co.Meath. They have an aviary at their home. All of their birds are raptors. Raptors are different than other birds because of their appearance. They have hooked bills for tearing their prey apart and talons for squeezing their insides to suffocate them.
The first bird was the Harris Hawk from South America. It sits on a cactus all day and hunts with its family. This hawk helps the ferret catch rabbits. It is usually found in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Britain and Western Europe. The Harris hawk was smaller than I expected.
The next bird was the European Eagle Owl. His name was "Thunder" because of the noise he makes when he lands. He weighs 4kg and his wingspan is approx 1.5m wide. It hunts rabbits, foxes and hares. He has brownish and creamy plumage. This owl lives in Europe and parts of Asia.
The Tawny Owl was next. He comes from Siberia, India and many parts of Europe and parts of North Africa. It hunts rodents by pouncing on them and swallowing them whole. Its bottom parts are dark brown with streaks with a creamy colour: its upper parts are either brown or grey.
The Bengal Asian Owl can be found in hilly and rocky scrub forests usually seen in pairs. Its chicks are born white.
The Barn Owl is mainly white/cream with brown wings. It looks as if it can rotate a 360 degrees turn when it moves its head.
Freddie the ferret is an albino which means he is a different colour than most ferrets.
I had a great day watching all of the birds and learning about each of them. Have a look at the slideshow to see the beautiful birds.
Recount written by a Fourth Class student.
The first bird was the Harris Hawk from South America. It sits on a cactus all day and hunts with its family. This hawk helps the ferret catch rabbits. It is usually found in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Britain and Western Europe. The Harris hawk was smaller than I expected.
The next bird was the European Eagle Owl. His name was "Thunder" because of the noise he makes when he lands. He weighs 4kg and his wingspan is approx 1.5m wide. It hunts rabbits, foxes and hares. He has brownish and creamy plumage. This owl lives in Europe and parts of Asia.
The Tawny Owl was next. He comes from Siberia, India and many parts of Europe and parts of North Africa. It hunts rodents by pouncing on them and swallowing them whole. Its bottom parts are dark brown with streaks with a creamy colour: its upper parts are either brown or grey.
The Bengal Asian Owl can be found in hilly and rocky scrub forests usually seen in pairs. Its chicks are born white.
The Barn Owl is mainly white/cream with brown wings. It looks as if it can rotate a 360 degrees turn when it moves its head.
Freddie the ferret is an albino which means he is a different colour than most ferrets.
I had a great day watching all of the birds and learning about each of them. Have a look at the slideshow to see the beautiful birds.
Recount written by a Fourth Class student.
* We would like to thank Mick Hansbury for organising these special visitors to come to our school.
Just after the Birds of Prey had left we had a little visitor to our classroom (see last picture on slideshow) he made a lucky escape!!!!
