Aiken Elem. students find naming owl a hoot

A barred owl can turn his head 270 degrees - not as much as Linda Blair of movie infamy, but pretty close.

In Amanda Brewer's fourth-grade class at Aiken Elementary School Wednesday, Raleigh the owl looked around a lot, trying to figure out who these people were and why they were so interested in him.

Raleigh doesn't appreciate it - after all, he's an owl - but the fourth-graders think he's wonderful. They met him during a visit to the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center in September. The class then tied for first place in a contest to name the owl, choosing the city he was from.

As a reward, Ruth Patrick's student programs director, Deborah McMurtrie, brought Raleigh to Brewer's class for a visit. The study of owls meets many state standards, including the environment, habitats and the adaptation of animals, said Brewer.

McMurtrie explained that Raleigh was hit by a car in North Carolina. He was hunting at night and was blinded by the car lights. The accident damaged a wing so that he can no longer fly sufficiently well to survive in the wild.

McMurtrie was surprised and pleased by how much the students learned from their field trip more than two months ago.

"We learned that the great horned owl is 25 inches tall," said Caroline Miller, "but the screech owl is just eight inches."

McMurtrie believes that Raleigh is about five years old, which means he could remain in good health at the Ruth Patrick Center for as long as another decade. Two older barred owls died earlier this year. Snippet lived more than 20 years, and that's remarkable, said McMurtrie. Her longtime companion, Spencer, died a few months later at 15 - the average life span.

"He stopped eating after Snippet died," McMurtrie told the students. "I really think he had a broken heart. He was so lonely after she passed away."

Brewer presented McMurtrie with thank-you letters written by the students.

"Raleigh will be a great, kind animal," Sophia McDonald wrote. "He reaches many people and one of those people is me ... Knowing he won't get back into the wild is very sad. I know you will make the best for him at the Ruth Patrick Center."