Session 7_Irene Perry, originally uploaded by campidyllwild.

Last week we were very lucky to have Irene Perry, a bird expert from the Warner Park Nature Center, visit our camp! Irene teaches children birding by ear – rather than trying to identify birds by viewing them (which is fun too!), she teaches them cute phrases (mnemonics) to remember the bird calls. Like the barred owl’s “who cooks for you, who cooks for you” or the tufted titmouse’s “peter peter peter”. The kids had a great time learning the phrases and trying to listen for them in the woods.

Irene had the kids divide into 2 groups and she gave half of them a bird call – each child had a different call – and the other half had to find their “mate” in the midst of all the other calls. The kids really enjoyed this game!

Later in the week Eric had some of the kids dissect owl pellets – these are the “coughed up” remains of what the owl has eaten (usually a rodent of some sort). This activity is always interesting because you never know what you might find. For our owl pellet activity we purchase pre-sterilized owl pellets and it is amazing how many rodent bones the kids found in these pellets! They didn’t quite have the patience to try to assemble the bones to determine exactly what the owl had eaten, and some of the pellets looked like they contained the remains of more than one rodent!

We enjoyed having Irene visit and plan to have her come back to camp for at least one (if not two) programs during our Spring Break camp and Summer Camp next year!

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