Name that owl! Science outside the classroom

I owe a big Thank You to our 20 acre juniper forest and to the High Desert Museum for our latest science adventure. Science is definitely a subject that calls you outside the classroom.

Our adventure began nearly two years ago, when we first saw the owl. My husband and I, along with our children, were looking at some real estate in Central Oregon. We fell in love with this big juniper filled parcel the minute we set foot on the rugged soil. The rock outcroppings, the tall, scraggly juniper trees, and the untouched feel of the land had us mesmerized. Then, suddenly, a screech, a whoosh, and gone in a flash. We knew we had an owl.

We ended up purchasing the property. Over the course of the next year, we discovered the owl’s nest high in one of the thousands of junipers – maybe 50 feet up. My husband and I had at least six sightings between the two of us. But, as you know, owls are nocturnal, so evening sightings are a glimpse at best. Our oldest boy collected several of the owl’s feathers, and we went on many hikes to look for any other possible nesting places. On one such hike, we disturbed the resting owl, and with a screech, he took wing. How exciting for the kids to hear the noise, and they raced around in a vain attempt to find him again.

I’m not sure I realized it at the moment, but as parents, we were shaping and developing our children’s scientific thinking. Our owl hunt was just an everyday activity born out of natural curiosity, but more valuable than any classroom science lesson.

We visited our local High Desert Museum during this period of time, and were thrilled to discover a Birds of Prey exhibit. There were live birds to study, and even recorded vocalizations to listen to. By now, we were narrowing the field of possible owl varieties – our kids really wanted to know what we had on our hands! We knew the coloring, the habitat, the nest, the call…we had either a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), a Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), or a Western Screech-Owl (Otus kennicottii).

The kids and I visited the Museum again last week, and spent most of our time with the Birds of Prey exhibit, naturally! We decided that most likely (but we could totally be wrong!), our owl is a Long-eared Owl. He sounds like a Screech-Owl, but those owls nest in natural cavities in trees, and ours has a nest. He looks a bit like the Great Horned Owl, but their strongest Oregon habitat association is grassland with fir and ponderosa interspersed. And the Long-eared Owl has a high nest, typically an abandoned nest of another large bird of prey, and their strongest Oregon nesting habitat association is in western juniper woodland.

That fits! At first, we nearly discounted the great nest we discovered, because it looked old and abandoned. Yes, exactly what our owl likes – these nocturnal creatures do NOT like to build their own nests. And of course, the juniper woodland describes our property to a “T.”

I can’t stress enough the idea that when families pursue scientific inquiries together, and when children are carrying on their own intellectual quests, a natural and deep science foundation is taking root. If you’re lucky enough to have an owl, all the better.

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