For Auntie Jillian

For those of you who don't know, Auntie Jillian is a bird biologist. She spends all the time she can banding and studying different species of birds.

At the zoo, we came across this nice lady, sitting all by herself with several bird feet/legs. There were Cassowary, Eagle, Goose, Great Horned Owl, Burrowing Owl, and two others I can't remember.

These are the Great Horned Owl and Burrowing Owl

See?

My favorite new fun fact we learned is that Geese have a valve in their leg that they can use to shut off the blood flow to their feet. It helps them not to feel cold when standing on ice and snow in the winter. Their foot is mostly cartilage so they don't have to worry about frostbite like we do. They turn the blood flow back on when they need it again.