By Moses Levich
Did you know that there are owls living in Central Park? In fact, there are several types, including Long-eared Owls, Great Horned Owls, and Screech-Owls. I went on a nighttime Owl Walk in Central Park with Birding Bob. His real name is Robert deCandido, and he is an ornithologist, which is a scientist who studies birds.
Birding Bob helped reintroduce the Eastern Screech-Owl to Central Park. He started this project in 1997 and now there are Screech-Owls nesting in Manhattan. In the Owl Walk I saw two Screech-Owls and a Great Blue Heron. We spotted one reddish-brown owl in a tree. The other owl, which flew overhead, was gray.
Birding Bob attracted the owls by playing a tape recording of an Eastern Screech-Owl call, which sounds like a horse whinnying. Birding Bob conducts regular bird walks.
See his website at www.birdingbob.com/schedule.htm. The cost is $5, and you need to email him ahead of time.
Moses Levich, 9, is in the third grade at the Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, Queens.
