MIFFLINBURG — Did you know that if your eyes were proportionate to your face the way the eyes of an eagle are, they would be the size of oranges?
A handful of homeschoolers do.
In fact, after attending a “Raptors in the Rafters” program at the Raymond B. Winter State Park on Wednesday, they might know a lot more than you do about a number of birds of prey that can be found throughout Pennsylvania.
The goal of the program, held for a variety of school groups, is to help students to learn to identify Pennsylvania raptors, according to MaryAnn Bierly, environmental education specialist.
At this time of year, and through November, Bierly said, hawks are migrating.
Now, these children will know what they’re seeing in the skies.
Focusing mainly on diurnal birds, or birds that are awake during the day, Bierly directed the students’ gaze to the rafters of the Environmental Education Center at the RR2 Mifflinburg park, where they saw replicas of a number of raptors, or birds of prey, including the red-tailed hawk, the most common in North America that can be seen soaring on thermo winds high in the sky, and accipiters, harriers, buteos, turkey buzzards, eagles and ospreys.
“What makes a raptor a raptor,” Bierly said, are its talons, beak, binocular vision, huge eyeballs, light feathers and tails specially formed for maneuverability. The birds also begin their day later than songbirds — around 10 a.m. That’s her kind of bird, Bierly joked.
In addition to their markings, habits and movements, which help in identification, Bierly shared with the students the plight of peregrine falcons, ospreys and eagles, which have been endangered. Thanks to the banning of the herbicide DDT, and detailed care taken by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Audubon Society and a number of college interns, they have and are continually making a comeback.
Following a lesson, each student was given a mounted bird and asked to identify it and report on what he found through research during the program about habitat and diet.
Popular spots for viewing raptors are at Waggoner’s Gap, Kittatinny Ridge and the appropriately named Hawk Mountain near Reading.
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Related Photos
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Brad Moyer helps his son Aaron, 10, of Lewisburg, identify a Northern Goshawk during Homeschool Day: Raptors in the Rafters at R.B. Winter State Park on Wednesday. Matthew Harris/The Daily Item
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MaryAnn Bierly, right, environmental education specialist at R.B. Winter State Park talks about birds of prey with Aaron Moyer, 10, left, of Lewisburg, and Timothy Reed, 10, of Loganton, on Wednesday at R.B. Winter State Park. Matthew Harris/The Daily Item
Discussion
Students learn to identify Pennsylvania raptors
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