With cold winters and long dark nights comes the opportunity to experience the unique magic of being outdoors in the brightness of a full moon on snow.
On Saturday, February 4 at 7PM, join the Chocorua Lake Conservancy (CLC) for an evening Owl Prowl with CLC Stewardship Director Debra Marnich. As part of the CLC/Tamworth Outing Club Winter Fest, we’ll take a walk on the trails that leave from the Preserve at Chocorua. We will have a quick review about owls of New Hampshire and the habitats they live in and head across the field and into the forest to the edges of a small pond, listening and calling for owls and experiencing the world of nocturnal animals by the light of a near full moon. Storm date is Monday, February 6, 6:30PM.
As one of nature’s amazing “living rodent traps,” owls play an important role in the fields and forests of this area, even though we may not see or hear them often. Special feathers, eyesight and hearing serve owls well as nighttime hunters. As we walk, we’ll try some experiments that will help demonstrate some of these unique owl adaptations.
Great horned owls and barred owls are some of the earliest nesting birds here in NH, laying eggs during the months of January through March in spite of cold temperatures and snow. Listening for their calls at night is a wonderful way to locate where they may be living in the surrounding forests. A moonlit night affords the possibility to see their shadowy silhouette as well. No guarantees that we will find owls on this walk, but you won’t regret spending time out in the bright winter night.
Meet at 7PM, just after the conclusion of the Winter Fest silent auction, outside the front doors of the barn at the Preserve at Chocorua. Please wear warm layers, bring a flashlight or headlamp, and snowshoes or ice grippers and hiking poles—our path will depend on ground conditions, but you will likely want one or the other. This event is free, and all ages are welcome; kids, please bring an adult with you. Space is limited—please register in advance below. Want to learn more about owls before the walk? You can find former CLC Stewardship Director Lynne Flaccus’s presentation “All About New Hampshire Owls” HERE.
CLC Stewardship Director Debra Marnich holds a BS in Zoology and an MS in Forestry. Her major interests and professional focus areas include combining wildlife and forestry practices to manage for both sound silvicultural and optimum wildlife habitat, creating early successional and bird nesting habitat, pollinator habitat creation, promoting small diverse farms local food production/agriculture, promoting land conservation and protection, environmental education, and integrating all resources concerns to create a balanced conservation system.
Banner image: In Winter crankie artists.