Folks at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center introduced their new great horned owl, Echo, to the public Saturday, in a presentation that delighted adults and children.

The event had a special meaning for the center's staff, who grieved in November 2010 when their beloved great horned owl and star attraction, Virginia, died after an extraordinarily long life of more than 40 years.

That was just months after the nonprofit American River Natural History Association took over the center from fiscally troubled Sacramento County in July 2010.

Naturalist Shawna Protze led Saturday's nature camp program. She said introducing Echo, who is about 9 months old, marked a new beginning for the popular nature center in Carmichael.

"Having Echo is kind of like a rebirth," Protze said. "It's a new young energy for our new nonprofit."

Unlike Virginia, Echo won't be on regular display in the lobby near the center's other raptors – a kestrel and a Northern saw-whet owl. Virginia had only one wing and could stand the confines of her glass enclosure, Protze said. Echo needs more room, but she will be a regular at events like Saturday's program.

The owl was found by a volunteer near South Lake Tahoe after she cried out in the night and took food from the person. It showed she had likely been raised by a human and had been released or escaped. She had imprinted on people as a food source and didn't know how to hunt.

The good news is Echo may live several times as long in captivity as owls do in the wild, where life expectancy is about 12 years, Protze said.

She'll also have lots of adoring fans, such as Rick Glass and his daughter Christina, 4, of Carmichael. "She is just beautiful," the small girl in a pink jacket told her father. She asked the naturalist, "Where's her horns?"

The horns of a great horned owl are actually tufts of feathers that rest upright when the owl is relaxed, and lie flat on its head, like a dog's ears, when it gets upset, Protze said.

That was one of the many facts Protze revealed to an audience of about 50 children and adults during her hour-long presentation.

All the while, Echo sat on Protze's gloved hand, sometimes opening her wings to their 4-foot span, sometimes turning her head around and looking backward, as owls can do. They have 17 vertebrae in their necks for maximum flexibility; humans have only seven, Protze said.

With golden eyes the size of quarters, the owls' powerful sight gives them a major advantage hunting at night. They can see the same range of colors as humans, plus infrared and ultraviolet light, Protze said. That lets them spot the waste trails left by mice and other prey, she said.

A great horned owl can lift three times its own weight and has immense gripping power in its talons. A 5-pound female owl can carry 15 pounds, Protze said.

The owls can and will kick a bald eagle out of its nest and move in, she said.

They're one of the few animals that eat skunks. The reason: They can't really smell.

And great horned owls hoot during mating season, which is right about now. They live in all sorts of environments, including suburbia, across North America.

"If you're hearing that classic hoot of an owl in your neighborhood," Protze said, "you're hearing a great horned owl."

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Call The Bee's Hudson Sangree, (916) 321-1191.

• Read more articles by Hudson Sangree