Owl Prowl Was a Hoot

There is no guarantee that you’ll actually see or hear owls when you sign up for an owl walk. But that wasn’t the case at this year’s Owl Prowl at Maybury State Park.

Last night at 6:00 PM, the adventure began with Friends Volunteer Kate giving everyone a brief talk about owls. She shared some of their unique adaptations: Owls have extremely good night vision and hearing because they are predators and most of them hunt at night. The edges of their wing feathers are soft which allow for quiet flight and silent hunting. Great Horned Owls use their powerful talons to grab and crush their prey, and their grip strength can range between 200-500 pounds per square inch (which is significantly stronger than a human).

After the informative discussion, five groups of about 20+ people each set off in different directions in search of the park’s owls, specifically the Screech Owl and then the Great Horned Owl. Each group had a leader who played the recorded owl calls and a volunteer mentor in training to lead an owl hike next year. Attendees helped hold up the mini-speaker as the owl calls were played while everyone patiently listened. And waited.

And in came the owls!

Special thanks to the OWLS!, The Friends of Maybury State Park, Friends Naturalist Kate Raynor, and Friends volunteers, the Maybury State Park’s DNR team, the DNR team from the Outdoor Adventure Center who helped us lead the hikes, all of the attendees (we couldn’t have done this without YOU), and Travelin’ Tom’s beverage truck.