Youngsters
get to know the young hero and the adventures
that carry him toward manhood. As they come to know Jeremiah as a friend who would
understand their own growing pains, they look forward to each book in the
series.
Teachers
will Achieve..
Teachers will appreciate the ways
that Jeremiah Stokely novels, kits, and activities make literature
meaningful to children. Teachers can download free classroom idea
packets to hold a hand-on workshop based on each book.
Click the >Play button
to listen to the bird's song!
Eastern Screech Owl (Otus
asio)
Length 8½ in., wingspan 20 in., Family Strigidae
Can you guess why this little fellow is called a
Screech Owl? Its primary song is a falling whinny like a horse. It also
sings a long trilling whistle, holding a note for up to three seconds.
Screech Owls live in two-thirds of the U.S., as far
west as the Dakotas. They live in many different habitats: woodlots,
forests, swamps, orchards, parks, suburban gardens.
Those in the east are red (southern states) or gray
(northern states), those in the Great Plains are gray. All have white
streaks or bars underneath. Screech Owls are small, with yellow eyes, flat
faces, and tufts of plumage that look like – but aren’t – ears. They can
raise or flatten these ear tufts.
The big eyes of owls are directed forward, encased in
a socket of bone called the sclerotic ring, which allows little eye
movement. This is why owls must turn their entire heads to look sideways.
Luckily, they have very flexible necks. Owls can rotate their heads 270
degrees, almost all the way around!
Screech Owls are nocturnal; they are active and vocal
only at night. They are best located by listening for their voices. They
nest in cavities in trees (in the West, holes in giant cactus) and hunt
insects and rodents, like mice and moles.
