On a Saturday morning, we had the Cornell raptor program tell us about some raptors (such as owls, falcons) and we got to see some of their birds displayed to us. It was a small event but very nice and I felt it was a good use of our common room. The animals were all injured and need to be cared for by the program rather than released back into the wild. I especially like the owl, she was really beautiful. It was the first time I had seen one in real life.
Recently, I had the opportunity to learn about various types of raptors from the Cornell Raptor Program. It was really interesting to learn more about owls, falcons, and hawks, and learn about what the Cornell Raptor Program’s mission was. It was also interesting to learn that while the cheetah is the fastest animal on land, reaching speeds up to 60-70 mph, the peregrine falcon is actually faster, with diving speeds up to 200 mph.
From a young age, my parents have given me an appreciation of the natural world. I still remember taking road trips to national parks like Sequoia and Yosemite where we’d see thousand year-old redwood trees, black bears crossing the road in front of our car, and taking in the natural beauty around us.
Raptors were no exception. Spotting a glimpse of one soaring high above was exciting enough, but seeing them so close that you could virtually pet one was mesmerizing. I loved learning all about their ecosystems and behaviors up close. I also was enchanted that students took it upon themselves to take care of these birds who would otherwise be unable to survive on their own in the wild, or if they could to nurse back to health so that they could be released.
It was an excellent event.
I had the pleasure of attending the event Raptors at Rose in which the Cornell Raptor Program visited Rose to exhibit their birds of prey to their students. I was highly interested in attending this event because I am pursuing a career in engineering and raptors have served as a great influence for engineers. The world’s fastest animal, the peregrine falcon, has the capability of reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour ( 293 ft/sec – 80 m/s – 322 km/hr) when diving toward their prey. To put this in perspective is like sprinting across a football field in 1.2 seconds. This feat can be attributed to their many adaptations and evolutionary traits. One of this evolutionary traits is their streamlined and aerodynamic body. This reduces the drag and turbulence experienced by the peregrine falcon during flight. Engineers at Northrop Grumman based their flying wing design on the peregrine’s falcon shape during flight at high speeds. The peregrine falcon shape also allows the B2 bomber to fulfill its primary role of serving as a stealth bomber. The absence of sharp corners, irregularities, and bulkiness of both birds decreases their chances of being detected by radars. Another source from nature revolutionizing aircraft design is owls. Their specialized feathers enable owls to flight nearly silently. Owl feathers alter air turbulence and absorb noise in order to allow owls to surprise their prey when they hunt at night. By replicating their feathers design engineers are able to reduce the noise generated by fan and rotor blades.
The Cornell Raptor Program came to Rose last week to teach us about their program and different kinds of raptors. Each bird was brought out one by one and the Raptor Program members taught us facts about the bird, while we were able to look at it interacting with its new environment of the Rose Common Room. Although I am not much of a nature/animal person, these birds absolutely amazed me. Being able to see hawks and owls so up close was a once in a life time experience- there is something so awe-inspiring about being able to look a wild animal in its eyes. I also learned so much from the students that I did not know! For example, many people think that the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world, but really the fastest animal is the peregrine falcon- one of the birds that was brought in. Lastly, I was inspired and impressed by the passion the students of the Raptor Program had for the program and the birds they worked with. Now whenever I see a hawk flying in the sky, I will remember the ones I was able to see in detail during this event.
Being able to see these fascinating creatures this close was a very unique experience. Normally, you would only see them in pictures, nature videos, and at a distance at a zoo. But here, we were able to see them up close. I could see the unique texture and patterns of their feathers, as well as the claws that would classify these birds as raptors. Being able to see these bird up close gave me more appreciation of them, rather than thinking of them as something very distant and “hypothetical” in a way. You would see birds flying high up in the sky, and hear about how some of them are endangered, but only by seeing them up close you can “conceptualize” them. With this “concept” of the birds, I feel more supportive of efforts to preserve them, rather than dismissing this creature I could not comprehend as “just another endangered species”. I feel the raptor program at Cornell, and other similar programs are very important for creating awareness. I believe most people would gladly support conservation programs (either through funds or policy votes or any other way they can), but many don’t take any action because these birds are distant in their minds as they are distant from the ground.
Saturday I attended the raptor exhibition in which various kinds of birds of prey were shown and we heard some cool facts about them which I will include here:
My favorite of the birds was a tiny owl named Odin, who was actually pretty mature. I never get sick of seeing the raptors being exhibited!
This past weekend, I attended the Raptors at Rose presentation, where I got to see live birds and learn more about them.
I remember attending several similar presentations when I was in middle and high school, and I almost always fell asleep during them. I’m glad that that was not the case this time — hearing about raptors’ lifestyles and watching the birds flap their wings majestically and bob their heads sillily kept me completely awake and engaged. I don’t normally think about how birds live their lives, so I was astonished by how fast raptors can dive and how much of owls’ skulls their eyes take up.
I am a little shaken by the fact that owls have tiny brains and are often vicious predators — I always thought they were wise, calm animals, but now that image is shattered.
Overall, I’m really glad I attended this event. I got to see cool and cute birds, and in the process, I learned a lot more about something that my normal classes would never cover.
This is some introductory show into a discipline I’ve never touched on before. Members of the Cornell raptor program showed us hawks, falcons & owls of different kinds one by one and talked about their various biological features, habitats, diets, etc.. A fact that surprised me is that the raptors were not just randomly collected and kept as zoo animals. What the program members keep are all birds with unknown injuries (that they attained before being collected) that are not suitable for returning to the wild.
Owls particularly attracted my attention for I’ve always heard of owls under some magical and legendary context, whether the famous Harry Potter series or the less-famous ones. A stunning fact was that the size of the eyes of an owl to its skull is similar to a human fist to a human head. That was the result of their being able to turn their heads almost 180 degrees around, since they cannot really turn their eyes so easily. Indeed, every advantage has its reason, and usually it is accompanied by some setbacks…
When an owl was standing for the show, it turned its head just right back and stared at the people taking photos of him. This aroused laughter among us–it’s just peculiarly that we humans find it funny and cute. My wild imagination started to take place, however–they once had stories too. They, as individuals, must have had their legends and romances before they retracted to the organization. Maybe they were nearly dead during a heroic fight. Maybe they determined to give up their lives trying to protect some other important beings. Or maybe they had simply been another victim of the expanding human race. And the features of their body, once so powerful and awe-inspiring, became on display. You can say that this is an inevitable tragedy, but it can hardly be criticized. This is the outcomes of comparison of civilization…
I would guess what the birds are thinking about. Maybe they are secretly weeping about their lives. Or maybe they were laughing at the dramatic situation that they are in–this is so much like the plot in Catch Me if You Can, where the hero soaring in the wild ended up in some sort of demonstration position (except that the birds are not criminals). Or maybe they didn’t really think about anything, just feeling ok to have survived and lived well.
Anyways, thanks to the Cornell raptor program for keeping the wild spirits from other possible unimaginable situations. It is good that we can know more about the birds and at least try to communicate with them.
This week I attended the “Raptors at Rose!” event. I have what might be called an amateur love of paleontology, particularly dinosaur paleontology. As a part of that passion, I’m particularly interested in attempting to reconstruct the anatomy of extinct creatures, so I saw an opportunity to get close to some living relatives of Dinosaurs. And, importantly, it had been a very long time since I had been up close to animals like these, and I have to say, the experience was phenomenal. Particularly, I was taken aback by the Great Horned Owl. It’s one thing to think about a bird abstractly – and perhaps it’s somewhat similar to see them daily. On the first, one can rationalize each aspect of the animal – all of the connected pieces go together in a way one expects. It has wings – so it flies. The shape and orientation of the contour feathers directs air over the wing in such a way to promote this flight. The beak/talons help it catch prey, etc. On the second, seeing bird every day also normalizes them. Of course they fly – we see them fly.
Yet it is altogether quite another experience to see something like the Great Horned Owl up close and in person. The handlers claimed the owl was quite light – which in contrast with its fairly behemoth size was hard to believe. It just seemed so big. And, even worse, it seemed stocky. But then there was that moment when the bird extended its wings – and it’s as if something clicked and astonished me even further. “This flies…” I thought to myself. Despite the cut wing, the span was impressive. And all of a sudden it made real the previously mundane realization: “Birds fly!” It’s difficult to explain how astonishing that actually feels, as I sit here thinking about it. Life evolved, through a slow and directionless biological process, the capacity to lift itself off the ground, and, taking advantage of the atmosphere, maintain its presence in the sky for remarkable periods of time. And we see the result of this every day. It’s quite a thing to appreciate. And, if I’m not mistaken, the science on the precise sequence of the evolution of flight in birds is still not totally solved. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but as I understand it, feathers in Dinosaurs predate true flying birds, and so feathers must have been secondarily adapted for flight. So, one may ask, what was the original purpose of feathers?
I think it’s fair to say I’m more or less blown away by the fact birds fly. And I wouldn’t have necessarily contextualized that without having seen these magnificent birds up close. I really appreciate the Cornell Raptor Program for sharing their work with us, and hope they continue to engage the Cornell community in appreciating these remarkable animals.
On Saturday, I attended the Raptors at Rose event. Normally I attend events during the week, but I saw an opportunity to learn about animals and I couldn’t resist. The student representatives from the Cornell Raptor Program were incredibly knowledgeable and I came away with a much better understanding of what birds of prey are like. First we heard a lot about the program and its founding; I think it’s great that we have a program dedicated to such interesting birds. If they can’t go out into the wild anyways due to injury, at least scientists have the opportunity to study and learn about these birds while they live out their days in a program that cares for them. Three groups of raptors were shown – hawks, falcons, and owls, and before each group, one of the students talked about the group as a whole and some defining characteristics. Then each handler talked extensively about the species they brought out and that specific bird’s history and traits. I learned some really surprising facts – for example, owls are thought of to be wise, but they technically have a much smaller brain than other raptors. Their eyes are so big that they take up too much room in their skull to have room for a relatively large brain. Some of the birds can be found in the Ithaca area, so I enjoyed learning about how they fit into the local ecosystem.
On Saturday, I was able to see something truly amazing: some of the most advanced birds of prey in the comfort of the Rose Common Room. Those in attendance included hawks, eagles, and owls some of the most striking birds I have ever seen. The Cornell Raptor Program educated me about the beauty and most interesting facts about these birds of prey and it was truly a spectacle to behold. It was a shame that more people were not at this event as it was a great opportunity to take a break from studying and see some rare birds.
Today, I went to the owl event. The 3 years old first owl is pretty. He hunts mice and insect. His left eye is cloudy and we think it could due to infection. The second one is 1.3 kg Red tail … Continue reading
I went to the Raptors at Rose event this week, and it was very interesting. Each bird had its own unique characteristics. The kestrel was the cutest, and the horned owl was pretty scary looking. This event made me interested in joining the Cornell Raptor Program since the birds were so fun to be around. I took a field ecology class one summer ago and we got to see birds of prey like hawks and some turkey vultures, but they were always high up and pretty hard to see clearly. It was nice to see the birds up close and see how they reacted to humans. The youngest one was not happy, but some of the older ones seemed used to the program and were more relaxed. I hope Rose has more ornithology events in the future because I had a lot of fun with this one. An anatomy one or conservation one may be less popular than this one was, but maybe songbirds or hummingbirds would get just as much attention from people with interests in those. Overall I was very happy with this event and I look forward to more events like it.
There is nothing more incredible than seeing a live bird of prey opening its wings just feet away from you. It was truly a privilege to see these animals up close, and hear about them from dedicated students that answered questions about everything from their diets to the evolutionary logic behind their sharp talons and intricate markings. For me, one of the birds stood out; Ellie, a red-tailed hawk. She had suffered wing injuries, making her unable to survive in the wild; for birds living in the wild, the ability to soar is necessary to hunt. Ellie was fantastic, with rich reddish-brown feathers and large wings that fluttered throughout the presentation. What I found most interesting about her and her fellow red-tailed relatives was how adaptable they are. I learned that some are so adaptable, in fact, that they have chosen to live in New York City, nesting in high rises and preying on “juicy” rats and pigeons below. I never could have dreamed that something I had deemed to be so wild and unreachable could thrive in one of the most densely populated cities in North America. Still, for as show-stopping and awe inspiring as Ellie was, the students handling her were equally impressive. The students were incredibly knowledgable, and truly wonderful to listen to. They gave in-depth presentations about each of the birds, and spoke to particular physical characteristics of each species; I learned that the vision of a falcon is 8x better than that of the best human’s vision (in addition to many other things)! More than anything, this lovely event proved once again how fantastic Cornell students are in their vast array of knowledge and interests.