Eastern Screech Owl-Photograph taken by Raymond Belhumeur of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada

3/27/15 Breaking News:  As of yesterday shortly after 3:00 PM there are 4 eggs!  Will there be a 5th?

Red Shouldered Hawk-Photo taken by Glenda Simmons of Tallahassee, Florida and found at Project Feeder Watch/Cornell Lab of Ornithology

American Kestrel -Photo taken by Pam Koch of Flagstaff, Arizona and found at Project Feeder Watch/Cornell Lab of Ornithology

What's New-2015

Welcome to the Trinity Catholic School Raptors 2015 Raptor Wiki project.  For several years this was the Peregrine Falcon Ohio Watch project and in recent years we have added a variety of raptors.  For 2015 we will study various raptors and to see if and how these birds are surviving today.  Specifically we will look at their nesting habits and observe the spring laying, hatching and growth of the various chicks. The list below shows the variety of raptors the class will explore.  Each student will be assigned a raptor from the list.  Be sure to check out the work of your classmates to learn about all of these interesting birds.

Have you made your observation yet? Use the Observation Form to do so 5 times between the beginning of the project and mid May spread out your observations.  No all of the raptors in our list will have cams to observe, however you will still observe a nesting bird from the camera links we do have. Of course you may do more than 5 if you want to! 

Check out the page called Observation Data.  When you make your web cam observation you will use a simple online form and your answers or data will collect on the spread sheet found on the Observation Data page.    See what your classmates are submitting and learn more about peregrine falcons and other raptors. 

Are you at a loss as to what more you can put on your own wiki page?  Here are some questions for your to think about and write about on your wiki page.

• How are other birds' beaks different from the beaks we see on most raptors?  compare the specifics of the beak of the raptor you are researching.
• How are all beaks the same?  How are raptor beaks the same?
• What is the unique shape of the raptors beak?
• Birds' beaks come in may shapes and sizes (skinny, long sharp, small) why do you think this is so?  Give some examples as to how the different shaped beaks might be useful. 

For most raptors the female is larger than the male and there is a big word for this see if you can find the word. I love this great comparison chart from Donna Daniels, ODNR naturalist in Columbus, see below.