Last Friday, October 30th, marked The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester
County’s Halloween Owl Prowl. 30 excited participants gathered at Bucktoe Creek
Preserve in the hopes of capturing a glimpse of these elusive nocturnal birds
that frequent the property. With a little bit of light left in the day, we
started out by learning about the 8 owls that can be found in Pennsylvania and
the 3 target species for the night: Eastern Screech Owl, Barred Owl, and Great
Horned Owl. These are the three most common owls of Pennsylvania, and are all
known to live on or near Bucktoe Creek Preserve.
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| Comparing the wingspans of the three common PA owls |
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| Taking a look at owl pellets found on the property |
Once we were all caught up on facts about the owls, had checked
out the taxidermy, and investigated some owl pellets, everybody was more than
excited to get out on the trail to try to find real live owls! We split into
two groups to give ourselves a better chance of finding owls, gathered our materials
and set out to see what we could find. Our first two stops yielded no results,
but at our third stop we heard our first owl! An Eastern Screech Owl, the
smallest of our common PA owls, called its
whinny
call. Invigorated by hearing our first owl, we moved on, certain that we would
find more, and we were not disappointed. At our next stop another Eastern
Screech Owl flew past us, landing on a tree not far from the trail, giving us a
wonderful look! As we continued the walk, we saw or heard at least three more
Screech Owls. They were putting on a show for us, silently flying past us to
check us out. We had a great time out on the trail searching for owls, maybe
next time we will get a Barred or Great Horned Owl!
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| Heading out on the trail! |
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| Beatiful Bucktoe Creek Preserve sunset |
The Land
Conservancy for Southern Chester County holds Owl Prowls every season. Our next
Owl Prowl will be Friday, January 22
nd from 5-6:30, please
click here to register! If you are
interested in an Owl Prowl for your private group, please contact Hannah, our
Education Coordinator, at 610-347-0347 ext 104 or
education@tlcforscc.org.
