Birds of prey come to Hurley Library

HURLEY - Children and bird lovers migrated to Hurley Public Library for Birds of Prey on Wednesday.

Birds of Prey is part of Hurley Public Library's summer reading program for kids. The goal of the program is to introduce children to the library, to get them to read and build their imagination.

For Birds of Prey, Courtney Wright of Northwoods Wildlife Center in Minocqua, Wis., brought with her two owls and a hawk.

Before she showed the large audience her animals, Wright talked about the wildlife center.

"(We) take care of animals that might get sick, hurt or can't live in the wild anymore," she said. "If you see an animal that has a broken wing, or has fallen from its nest, call the center."

To teach the audience about birds of prey, Wright fed them some facts.

"Birds of prey, or raptors, eat meat," she said. "Bald eagles, hawks and falcons are raptors, or birds of prey."

In anticipation of what's to come, Wright told the children to close their eyes and imagine a duck. Then Wright told them open their eyes and asked the kids if their duck had webbed feet.

"(Their) webbed feet help them swim and survive," Wright said. "That's adaptation. Adaptation is anything that helps animals stay alive."

As a demonstration, Wright showed the audience eagle and owl talons, owl wings and a hawk skull.

"An owl has two talons on the front and two on the back of its feet," she said. "Owls have feathers on their feet to stay quiet while hunting at night."

"Eagles have three talons in the front and one in the back" Wright said. "The talons allow them to hunt bigger prey."

After Wright showed the crowd different bird parts, she brought out an owl named D.C. She said D.C. was blind in one eye.

"She was sent to us after being found by the side of the road," she said. "We think she was startled by a car and flew into it."

Wright put the owl away and then showed them T.J., the hawk. Like D.C., Wright said T.J. was blind in his right eye.

"T.J. has an eye infection," she said.

While showing the crowd the hawk, Wright said that hawks were built for speed and like to eat dragon flies.

Last, but not least, Wright showed everyone Orion, a great horned owl. She said Orion dislocated his elbow and can't survive in the wild.

"(Orion) has feathers on his head in order to talk to each other," she said. "It's feathers are softer than T.J. the hawk's feathers."

Out of the three birds, Alex Worthington, 9, of Hurley, said she liked the great horned owl most.

"The great horned owl was big," she said. "And it's nocturnal, like me. I like bird's eggs, they're pretty.

Wright said that it's important for children, and adults, to be prepared if they see an animal in need.

"A lot of the time, they don't survive if we don't give them a chance," she said. "So, (people) don't know where to take them. Any help they can give, even giving us a call, can really help the animals in the future. Not just this generation, but the next one, too."