Maybe it was the full moon, the super moon, the blue moon or the fact that it is the middle of winter and hooting it up sounded like a good idea.
When EDUCARE’s teaching director suggested to parents that they go owling, Susan Heinricher said she received a resounding, “yes.”
Parents, students, siblings, family and friends, ranging from age 1 to 90, recently gathered for the adventure. Forty-eight people showed up, she said.
After a pizza supper, a video of “Owl Moon” by Jane Yolen was shown — the children’s book perfectly describes what it is like to go owling. “You need to be quiet, you need to be brave, and you need to have hope.”
After the video, Dave Small, president of Athol Bird and Nature Club, shared some of his knowledge about owls using two owl specimens from the ABNC collection. He used his phone to play the sounds of the most common owls, as well as the owls the group was hoping to hear.
Then, everyone bundled up and with Small leading the way, headed off to some nearby fields and woods.
The moon had clouded over, but Small said sometimes owls are more active on darker nights. Arriving at the first stop, standing still and quiet with flashlights off, Small called for an owl. The group waited. There was no answer.
The group walked a little farther — the same.
As “Owl Moon” tells us, “Sometimes there’s an owl and sometimes there isn’t.”
But, on the third try … maybe a saw whet owl? And on the fourth and fifth, from across the field, there was a clear and steady answer. A saw whet was hooting.
It was to let the owl rest, according to Heinriche, so the group headed back to EDUCARE for hot chocolate and marshmallows.
She said she learned that owling is a perfect nighttime adventure for all ages.