PA Young Birders: Halloween Saw-whet Owls
Nov 5, 2011 | by Adrian Binns
Due to last weekend’s unexpected snow storm we had to rescheduled our PA Young Birder’s Halloween Saw-whet Owl banding event at Rushton Woods Preserve for last night.
We had a tremendous turn out with well over 50 kids for the 2 hour evening event. Blake began with a outdoor slide presentation about Saw-whet Owls, that included giving everyone an idea of what is involved to band and record the data when an owl is captured.
While the nets were being checked for Saw-whets the kids were occupied with a variety of activities including a walk through the woods; a scavenger hunt for owls; making s’mores at the bonfire and drawing saw-whets.
Using several field guides and books, the kids were able to render their own interpretation of the images, and produced some very fine illustrations. These sharp-eyed young artists picked up on such details as posture, feather streaking, talons and plumage colorations – all great observations.
Some examples from our budding young artists!