Both of our children have grown up liking owls. Maybe it starts with
Clifford's Animal Sounds, where "the cow says Moo, the owl says Whoo" (Michael especially loves that page and says the sound each time). Whoo (heehee) knows. Anyway, I have always thought they were cool too, but was never what you'd call obsessed at all, that is, until recently. Blame Target, I think...(See below).
This past May we attended a "Nocturnal Raptor" lecture at our county conservation park (photo). Michael was fascinated by the live "teacher" owls they brought in, but quickly bored by the lecture itself, so unfortunately Jeff missed a big chunk of the lecture. I learned quite a bit, including the fact that their hearing is so acute b/c their ears are lopsided...one up high, and the other down low. This helps them locate their prey in the dark. An owl's flight is nearly soundless...their feathers simply do not make noise as they swoop down, again, so they can hear their prey.
We even got to dissect an
owl pellet, something I remember doing at nature camp growing up (also through a county conservation park). Christopher had a lot of fun with this and insisted we bring the bones home (no arguments here! I think it's cool too.)
Then, very shortly after the lecture, Jeff was putting both boys to bed with the windows open on a nice evening. I was gone to work or wherever, and they heard an owl hooting outside. They were all really excited, especially since the naturalist had imitated several Iowa owls hoots, and they knew they had heard a great horned owl. Later in the summer I awoke around 2am and heard TWO great horned owls hooting (probably a mating call) out the window. Mom called one day and left a message on our answering machine about a very strange noise she heard out her window in the middle of the night...turns out it was a barred owl. Here's a cool website with owl calls:
Hoot!Ok, on to Target:
I could not pass this up...so cute! Read the shirt:) I love to read, and I love owls, AND the shirt was only $5. No one could blame me for this purchase!
The pajama pants are Janet's "fault" ;) She got the shirt, and I "needed" the pants b/c they are just too darned cute.
The slipper, I just don't get...it doesn't look enough like an owl.
Next time I'm motivated, I'll upload links to about a million cute digital SB collections that include owls...
