Owls Soar Off the Screen, Flock to West Hempstead Library

The animated stars of Disney's latest studio release,“Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole,” flew off the big screen and into the West Hempstead Library on Thursday.

Local youngsters gathered in the Children’s Program Room at West Hempstead Library, where Long Island’s Sweetbriar Nature Center helped excite the minds and imaginations of children aged 8 to 12 by showcasing different breeds of owls.

Twenty children gathered eagerly to learn about the world of owls, happy to discover new facts about the creatures. Susan Krauss, the owl handler from Sweetbriar brought in three species – the Barn owl, Screech owl, and the Great Horn owl to explain to the children things they would probably have never learned about the creatures.

As the birds entered the room, the eyes of the children lit up. “Oh, they loved it. The kids were full of questions,” commented Janine Bendickson of the Sweetbriar Nature Center. Focused primarily on owl education, the handlers wanted the children to be able to gain a greater appreciation for owls – and for the natural world in general.

Children flocked from their seats to learn as much as they could about the owls, from their eating habits to their natural habitats. What had been made clear first was that all of these owls came from Long Island. “Being indigenous to areas such as fields and forests, the tiny Screech owl is found approximately every 12 blocks,” Krauss said to the group of children. “The Great Horn owl, which is the largest of the three species brought in here, is often found in fields and forests.”

On the other hand, as it was presented, the Barn owl is rarer to find. Though they do inhabit Long Island, they often shy away from the public and live only in areas where they will not be easily seen. Knowledge of the species began to spread when local researchers found a Barn owl living on the Robert Moses Causeway; the species however, is often found nesting in crevices in barns, thus giving them the name.

One child timidly asked about the diet of the owls. Krauss made it known the owls “maintain a steady diet of rats and mice.” Screech owls, the children later learned, do turn to eating moths and other flying bugs during the winter. Normally however, these owls are one of the main predators which keep the rodent population in check.

 The final question of the night came from one young boy, who asked the infamous question, “can an owl turn its head all the way around [in a 360 degree circle]?” As the children of the group began excitedly wondering aloud the answer to such a question, Krauss, in regaining control of the room, shocked the youngsters with the answer, “no!”

“Owls, thanks to an extra vertebrae,” later explained Bendicksen, “can turn their head in three-quarter circles, but they can’t turn it around all the way.”

Krauss touched on everything from owl hearing to owl eyesight. Getting a chance to touch the owls gently by the end of the program, it was clear to see that the goal of the program -  making the world of owls come to life, all the while increasing appreciation for the animals  - was accomplished.