Ask Otus Owl

Hi, my name is Otus. I live at the Environmental Studies Center. I am an Eastern Screech Owl. Lots of people ask me how I got my name. Well, my scientific name used to be Otus Asio, now it's Megascopes Asio. Otus sounds better than Megascopes, so that's how I got my name. If you'd like to know other things about me or my friends at the Environmental Studies Center, just send me an email!

	Click here to see my friends.
	Click here to See Outside My Window into the Spring Hammock Preserve.

Question: Do you leave the museum to go on the mudwalk and will you help at the air potato raid?

Answer: I love to go for walks (I stay on the arm of Mrs. Harris or one guides as I cannot fly). I usually go for a walk every morning before the classes come. The teachers do not take me on the mudwalks because if they fell then I would be in the mud also. Remember how hard it was to keep your balance. My feathers are different from other birds. If I get wet, my feathers won't dry very quickly, which could cause me to get cold and become sick. I do like to "bathe" at a waters edge. I don't submerge my entire body, but instead throw water over myself with my beak and splash in the shallow edges. 
I will be in the museum and will see the visitors after the air potato raid is over.

Question: What grades visit you?

Answer: I see mostly 5th graders at the Environmental Studies Center. Occasionally, I see 1st graders but only when there is not a 5th grade class that is scheduled for the dry day or mudwalk. The money to run the Center was reduced due to the State cutting the amount of money given to the school systems. My Friends (the Friends of the Environmental Studies Center) have to raise $20,000 a year just so 5th graders can continue to learn during the two day program(dry day/ mudwalk).  Unfortunately, there is not enough money so that all the first graders can visit also.

Question: Why do you blink so much?

Answer: I use my top eyelids for winking and blinking, which is one way that I communicate. Unlike people, I don't use my voice very much. I guess you could say winking and blinking is owl sign language. My bottom eyelids are "sleeping eyelids". I also have a clear lens that closes diagonally. It is called a nictitating membrane.  I close the nictitating membrane when I fly or eat to protect my eyes.

Question:  Do frogs have a nictitating lens like alligators do?

Answer: Frogs have a third eyelid [a nictitating lens] that they can draw across their eye. they do this to protect them from debris, prey,and the dryness of the air. Many other animals have one to.
(Thank you to Emma who researched and answered her own question.)

Question: Where did the alligator in the museum come from?

Answer: Every year, the teachers at the Environmental Studies Center go to Gatorland to choose a new alligator.  Gatorland is very kind to let an alligator live at the Center every school year.  The alligator will spend the entire school year with us and is returned to Gatorland in June. In just nine months, the alligator will outgrow its tank.

Question: Why do you live at the Environmental Studies Center?

Answer: I was found on the ground, under a tree in the late spring of 2007. I don’t remember exactly what happened, and no one else knows for sure. At that time I was a fledgling, which means that I was young and had just gotten the feathers necessary for flight. I had to get surgery on my wing, which was broken. I spent time recovering at the Bird Of Prey Center in Maitland. Even so, my wing wouldn’t completely mend, which is why I am a flightless bird. My family had to obtain special permits since I am a screech owl, and Birds of Prey are protected. They visited me at the Bird of Prey Center nursery until October 2007, when I finally got to move into my new home at the Environmental Studies Center.

Question: Can owls really turn their heads in a complete circle?

Answer: I cannot turn my head in a complete circle. I have 14 vertebrae which is twice as many as you do so I can turn my head 270 degrees. As you learn from the compass on dry day, a complete circle is 360 degrees. I cannot move or roll my eyes like you do as my eyes are “fixed” and I only look straight ahead. Because my eyes do not move in the socket, I have to turn my head to see what is going on around me.

Question: Are there any special treats you like to eat?

Answer: Large meal worms and crickets are my favorites. I eat a couple a day when someone offers them to me.

Earth Day

I just wanted to say Hello to everyone that came to  "Earth Day Every Day" in Sanford and the Lake Lotus Earth Day Event.  I saw so many people that wanted to help keep the Environmental Studies Center open.  Thank you, I really like my home and seeing the Seminole County 5th graders everyday.

Earth Day 2009

Earth Day 2009