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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Living in suburban Boston has many perks. Living mere minutes from the city while also being able to appreciate and immerse oneself in nature is just one in a list of many. However, despite this benefit, it can be hard to take advantage of both without proper direction.
The Massachusetts Audubon Society wants to make sure that residents are aware of the natural glory around them. One of the ways they promote this is through presentations, one of which was given at the Sherborn Community Center last Tuesday detailing the unknown about owls. Titled “Owl: Nocturnal Animal,” Susan McCarthy gave a presentation revealing the mysteries and lesser-known about the majestic animals.
While there were no live animals present, McCarthy brought a number of props in order to better understand owls. This included an owl skull, which she presented to the audience with great delight. “If you look you can see the huge, huge spaces for the eyes,” she explained as she passed around the skull. “There’s more space for the owl’s eyes than the owl’s brain. So the owl can see a whole lot better than it can probably think. That’s a pretty cool thing to think that their eyes are not actually special in any way they are just so much bigger than human’s eyes, they can see more light and get a better view of what is going on.”
This was followed by an explanation of an owl’s ears. What are commonly confused for the ears on top of the owl’s head are actually just feathers which aid in their camouflage. “I want you to take one finger and hold it on top of your ear, and take one finger and put it on the bottom of your other ear – this is sort of where an owl’s ears are,” McCarthy said. “They have one ear up high and one ear down low, and that means that one ear can listen to things that are moving around in the sky like birds and bats, and one ear is angled on the ground so they can listen to mice and things that are running around.”
McCarthy then presented an owl foot, complete with talons. She explained that the reason the talons can be touched without harm now is that the owl’s muscles are a vital part of the killing equation. The foot that McCarthy used was from a snowy owl, which lives in the arctic during the summer, but migrates down to the Massachusetts area during the winter because it gets too cold. These owls populate beaches during their migration, “because it looks like it’s home in the arctic, it’s nice and flat, and so it looks like it’s home,” McCarthy said.
Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary is helping locals understand the fauna around them and how best to appreciate it. This illuminating presentation at the Sherborn Community Center certainly played its part.
