I'll start with some big news: I am now a parent! For Valentine's Day, Dave adopted me a barred owl named Hala. My adoption certificate (haha!) is shown below - sorry for the reversed image, but I had to use photobooth...it actually says, "this is to certify that emily rietz is the proud parent of hala."
Now for the really juicy raptor tidbits: Today at service learning at the Carolina Raptor Center my kids got to witness a bald eagle mother named Savannah sitting on her newly hatched eaglets. Here is one of the babies:
Two cool facts I learned today about raptors: they have hollow bones which are fused at the joints - this enables flight; mom and dad eagle pairs take turns sitting on the eggs/babies until they leave the nest.
If that wasn't enough raptor fun for the day, I got an email late in the day from Dr. Rob Bierregard from UNCC - he's a biologist and adjunt professor who studies raptors - especially barred owls and osprey. Anyway, Dr. Rob came to my class a few months ago and Linda and I shared about our love for owls and our failed nest-hunting attempt. He said he would keep us in the loop if he journeyed out to a nest box near our houses. Anyhoo...we got to use a peepscope and see into a nest - when we put up the scope, the mama owl came shooting out. We saw two eggs in the nest which should hatch in a few weeks. And guess who gets to go back to help tag the babies?!
Gordon mans the peepscope...
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