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By Robby McKittrick
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On Tuesday, October 31, the Needham Library hosted a live owl presentation for the members of the community.
The room was packed with young children and their parents, who were on hand to see a variety of owls up close.
“[My grandsons] are interested in [animals] and have never seen an owl before,” said a Needham grandmother in attendance, Maryann Scheufele.
The Needham Library, which has hosted a variety of live animal programs in the past, had the Wingmans organization come to the library “many years ago,” said Library Children’s Supervisor Paula Dugan.
Jim Parks of the Wingmans group shows a great horned owl to the Needham Library audience. Photos by Robby McKittrick
Wingmasters is a group founded by Jim Parks and Julie Anne Collier that focuses on rescuing and rehabilitating birds of prey. Parks was the lone speaker at Tuesday’s event at the library.
“The appeal of an owl is that they look like wound up toys, which they are not,” explained Parks. “I really stress this during the program. It’s a science and nature program, and every bird that is here is native to Needham.”
Parks made sure to tell the children to stay seated and remain quiet throughout the presentation so that the owls would not be bothered.
“You are in no danger, but the birds have the best eyesight and hearing of any living things,” he told the group at the beginning of the talk.
During the presentation, Parks discussed some information and facts about different owls, and then presented a few to the group. He showed the audience an eastern screech owl, a barred owl, and a great horned owl.
“They look like philosophers in deep thought,” Parks said about the birds. “But [do they have] wisdom? No.”
The crowd intently watched as Parks showed each owl up close to the audience members. The audience had the greatest reaction to the great horned owl, one of the largest and most aggressive birds in New England.
“The great horned owl is the most powerful hunting owl,” Parks explained.
Overall, the presentation was a great way for the Needham youth to learn more about owls and see their behavior up close and personal.
“We try to provide programs that are fun, that will be high interest to our community and that contribute towards providing information and education for children,” said Dugan.
