Creature Teacher, Inc is a 501(c)3 non-profit
organization
Iris
is an eastern screech owl. She suffered an injury to her left
eye leaving her permanently blind in that eye and therefore unable
to be released. She has a good temperament thus making her a
good candidate for education. Eastern Screech Owls are very
small raptors. Their main delicacy is rodents. Iris only
weighs 176 grams! ESO's make their nests in hollow tree
cavities. Their babies are called owlets. They do
something very interesting when they feel the need to camouflage.
We call this "skinny up". When they "skinny up" they squeeze
their feathers in and make themselves skinny and tall as if to blend
in and look like a tree branch. It is against federal laws to
keep an owl as a pet. There is a lengthy application process
to obtain federal permits for exhibiting raptors. Iris is an
incredible liason for our community to learn about local wildlife.
