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To Catch a Hooting Bird
Catching owls isn't easy. That's why ornithologist George Barrowclough has to be swift and sneaky. He studies northern spotted owls. They live in the Pacific Northwest. George studies the spotted owls' DNA. To get a sample, he must first catch an owl. To find an owl's location, George's team makes spotted owl calls. Even when sleeping, a spotted owl will answer the call of another owl. George's team waits for night, when the owl wakes up. They tempt the owl to come close with a meal of a fresh mouse. While the owl is eating, the scientists catch the bird. They take a blood sample, make notes, and then let it go. On a good night, two scientists might catch only two owls, but their research may help save this threatened species.
Date of Birth: February 13, 1948
Hometown: Somerset, MA
Position: ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History
Education: Sc.B., Sc.M., Brown University;
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Known for: studying spotted owls
If a scientist studies avian creatures, what does he or she study?
aardvarks
various birds
blue bugs
Correct!
The word "avian" refers to bird-like animals. Avis is Latin for bird. Avian animals have fascinated George Barrowclough since he was a kid.
Another bird that George likes to research is the junco. Juncos are birds that:
have sharp beaks
like to fly around junkyards
build their nests out of trash
Correct!
Juncos are sharp-beaked birds that are very good at cracking seeds open. George is interested in studying why the many kinds of juncos that live in North and Central America look so very different from each other.
I get to learn about animals that I love for a living.
George Barrowclough