Children, birds flock to Carnegie Library Tuesday

By TOM STANKARD

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Ironwood - Birds of prey migrated to Ironwood Carnegie Library Tuesday afternoon.

Bart Kotarba, of the Northwoods Wildlife Center, brought his feathery friends and assorted bird parts to the library to teach children about birds of prey that live in their area.

Kotarba said birds of prey, or raptors, are types of birds that hunt and feed on other animals. He said there are several types of raptors, including falcons, eagles, hawks and owls.

This type of bird has sharp talons. Holding a bald eagle talon, Kotarba said it is big and powerful with really long nails to catch and kill prey.

"It's like four daggers or knives going into an animal on each foot," he said.

Then, Kotarba brought out an owl talon. He said owl talons have fuzzy toes.

Kotarba put the talon away and then showed them an eagle skull. He said birds of prey have a sharp beak used for ripping and tearing apart their prey.

Kotarba put on a glove and brought out an American kestrel falcon.

He said birds at the wildlife center have an injury crippling them from being able to survive in the wild.

Kotarba said this falcon had poor sight in one eye and is missing several feathers.

"Sadly," Kotarba said the wildlife center received the falcon when it was a baby and he doesn't know what happened to its eye.

Kotarba said the falcon was a girl, because it had reddish-brown wings. He said males have slate-blue wings.

Another way to tell male from female, he said, is by their height. He said female American kestrel falcons tend to be bigger than males.

Next, Kotarba showed-off a saw-whet owl. Like his falcon, Kotarba said the owl had poor vision in one eye. He said an owl can't move or roll their eyes, but they are able to rotate their heads about 270 degrees. Kotarba said owls have soft feathers which allow them to be silent when hunting at night.

As a homework assignment, Kotarba told the children to listen and look for birds of prey in their neighborhood.