Girl Scouts experience Eyes on Owls

By Claudia J. Krimsky

Special to the Weston Observer

On Sunday, Oct. 5, Weston’s Girl Scouts welcomed Marcia and Mark Wilson and their wild owl menagerie to a packed event at the Scout House.

Marcia Wilson, a former Girl Scout, introduced the Scouts and parents in attendance to eight raptors. Seven owls and one kestrel emerged from specially constructed cases. The owls were tethered to a leash and ultimately to a carabiner linked to Marcia’s waist. She wore heavy-duty gloves to protect her hands and arms from the birds’ talons. The owls ranged in weight from roughly one-quarter pound to more than 10 pounds, and some felt comfortable flexing their wing muscles as they were walked around the room to the awe and delight of the Scouts.

The Eyes on Owls program started with a slide show featuring Mark Wilson’s photography and provided insight into the nesting, feeding, grooming and learning-how-to-fly behaviors of a wide variety of owls. The Wilsons shared there are 12 species of owls in New England and that they are carnivores. They catch all of their food with their feet. When the young are learning how to fly, they will often fall to the ground and climb back up the tree to their nest before finally getting the hang of using their wings.

Prior to the start of the Wilsons’ program, eighth grade Girl Scout Cadette Ava Muzila did a presentation as part of her work on her Silver Award project. Her project is focused on encouraging families to make their home, schools and offices poison-free.

She spoke about the efforts in our town and state to prohibit anticoagulant rodenticides as they not only harm the mice that ingest the poison, but also have a negative impact on the health and well-being of the raptors that consume the poisoned mice. Ava is working in collaboration with Save Weston Wildlife.

Each participating Scout left with an owl-themed pencil case designed to encourage them to protect these magnificent creatures.