From November 2011 through February 2012 Matthew Collins, the
Friends’ Education Director, led nineteen participants on seven outings at
Tryon Creek. Their mission? To locate and study the owls that call Tryon Creek
home.
Collins conceived of the Owl Citizen Science Project as a
way to provide people with a chance to learn about scientific monitoring
techniques, interact with the park at night, impart intimate knowledge of
resident and visiting owls, and inspire a stronger sense of connection to the
natural world in general and Tryon Creek in particular.
A typical outing would begin around 6 p.m., when the park
started to get dark. Project participants would divide into small groups that
would hike to stations along the trails until 8 p.m. As groups reached their
different stations they would begin by waiting in silence and then they would
proceed to make owl calls starting with the most diminutive, the reason being
that if you call the large owls first the smaller ones are very unlikely to
respond out of fear. When a team heard an owl call back, the group was careful
not to prolong engagement to prevent the owl from being disturbed.
Observing owls and being in the park at night was extremely
positive for project participants:
“It was a great experience to learn
more about owls. I didn’t realize that there were so many in such a small area!
It was exciting to be in the park at night with my group of three or four
people, and waiting in the silence was amazing.” – Diane Quivey
“I learned something about owls in
general and particularly those in my neighborhood. We live about a half mile
from the park and ever since moving here in the late ‘90’s, I've heard owls in
the middle of the night. I heard one again a couple nights ago about 2 a.m. It
turns out they're screech and barred owls. And, lo and behold, I can tell them
apart now!” – Jeff Wiseman
“Although I have hiked in the park
countless times I have never done it at night. I wanted to see what it was
like…in the safety of a group who knows what they’re doing. For amateurs like
me, this was a whole new experience.” – Stephen Goodrich
The Owl Citizen Science Project will return to Tryon Creek
this fall with a kick-off event planned for October. Those interested in
participating can visit
www.tryonfriends.org
for more information.
