“Howls for Owls” Draws Wildlife Fans to Screamin’ Hill Brewery
by Rachel McGovern, Director of Education
CWF’s “Howls for Owls” event at Screamin’ Hill Brewery in Cream Ridge, New Jersey was certainly among our most fun fall activities. Owl enthusiasts flocked to this 170-acre farm for an evening of family-friendly activities in celebration of barn owls. Children and adults alike enjoyed dissecting owl pellets, creating owl masks, making adorable pinecone owls, and participating in three rounds of owl-themed trivia. Many attendees even came dressed in owl costumes!
Activities were designed to be fun and to teach attendees about owl adaptations. Owl pellet dissection was one of the most popular things to do. Children and their parents often worked together to extract all the bones found within a pellet and figure out what the owl had consumed.
Kids also made special owl masks with tubes around the eyes to mimic the oblong shape of an owl’s eye. Owl eyes are fixed in place and shaped more like a doorknob or tube than a sphere. When the mask is on, kids discover that they can only see in front of them and must rotate their heads around to look from side to side- just like an owl. Because owls cannot move their eyes, they are adapted to turn their head about 270 degrees around!
