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 Monday, March 2 at 7 PM, join Chocorua Lake Conservancy (CLC) for an evening Moonlight Owl Prowl with former US Forest Service wildlife biologist Chris Costello and CLC Stewardship Director Debra Marnich. We’ll snowshoe out toward the Chocorua River on the new Tamworth Community Nurse Association All Persons Trail off of Scott Road in Chocorua, listening and calling for owls and experiencing the world of nocturnal animals by the light of a full moon. Storm date will be Tuesday, March 3.
As one of nature’s incredible “living mouse traps,” owls play an essential role in the fields, forests, and wetlands of this area, even though we may not see or hear them often. Specialized feathers, eyesight, and hearing serve owls well as nighttime hunters. As we walk, we’ll try some experiments to 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, crisp, winter night.
Meet by 7 PM at the TCNA All Persons Trail parking area on Scott Road. Please wear warm layers, bring a flashlight or headlamp, toe and hand warmers, snowshoes are required, and trekking poles are optional. If you don't have snowshoes, please let us know in advance as we have a few pairs to lend out.
Sliding scale tickets, kids are free, and families are welcome with kids old enough to manage the ground conditions. Children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult. Space is limited, and we need to be able to let you know if the schedule changes—please register in advance above. Parking is also limited—please carpool with a friend if possible. Want to learn more about owls before the walk? You can find naturalist Lynne Flaccus’s CLC presentation “All About New Hampshire Owls” down below.
Chris Costello is a former wildlife biologist with the US Forest Service and worked on the Bartlett Experimental Forest (BEF) in Bartlett, NH for over 25 years. She’s assisted with wildlife monitoring and research on a variety of species including songbirds, bats, terrestrial salamanders, small mammals and raptors. She has spent many winter evenings surveying for barred owls on the BEF and looks forward to sharing what she has learned about this elusive species as well as some of our other native New Hampshire woodland owls.
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 from the In Winter crankie. View it HERE.