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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}owl-pic-2.JPG" style="width: 250px; height: 174px; float: right; " />Our first Communty Days program kicked off last night, introducing people to owls and their amazing adaptations that allow them to be successful, nocturnal creatures.<span>&nbsp;</span>Our audience was terrific: a group of 42 highly enthusiastic people hailing from as&nbsp;far away as Missouri, Colorado, and even Texas!<span>&nbsp;</span>When asked if they had come all the way up just for our presentation, they said no.<span>&nbsp;</span>They were up visiting family members on the lake. But we&#39;re pretty sure that if we&#39;d advertised in their home States, they would&#39;ve made the effort. &nbsp;</p>
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	It was a great night. Audience members were introduced to why owls are so alluring whether it be for their sage <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ0epRjfGLw">Tootsie Pop wisdom</a>, their silly peculiar nature as in <a href="http://allpoetry.com/poem/8564617-The_Owl-Critic-by-James_Thomas_Fields">James T. Fields poem&nbsp;<em>The Owl</em></a>, or their sometimes spooky association with scary stories and the dark; owls are culturally ubiquitous.</p>
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	Before long we were outside enjoying the soft evening light that illuminated smiles on the children&rsquo;s faces as they tried their best to be sneaky like an owl in a game called &ldquo;Sneaky Owls Need to Trick Jake to Eat the Baby Opossum in the Middle of the Circle&rdquo; (other popular names for the same game include a much simpler, &ldquo;Owl/Opossum&rdquo;).</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Owl-pics.JPG" style="width: 250px; height: 173px; float: left; " />With all our tricky, &quot;owl&quot; children full on opossum, we headed out on the trail to try our luck at rounding up some owls on Au Sable&rsquo;s campus. Having hid taxidermied Snowy, Barred, and Great Horned Owls at various spots along the trail beforehand, participants had to use their owl eyes to locate the inconspicuous raptors during the hike (with the exception of the snowy owl -- it&rsquo;s frustratingly difficult to hide a white owl in the summer&hellip;). Alas, participants did a great job and with each sighting we were able to look at the owl up close and talk about the adaptations and habits of each individual bird.</p>
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		As the evening wound down, we retired to the dining hall to fill our bellies with cookies, coffee, and lemonade (it&#39;s surprising how kids can make room after eating a full meal of opossum). It was the end of a great night and the beginning of a fun stretch of <a href="http://ausable.org/news_and_resources/news/2011_summer_community_programs_at_au_sable_institute">Thursday evening Community Days programs</a> we will be hosting most of the month. Next up at 7pm on Thursday, July 14<sup>th</sup>&nbsp;we will be learning how to read the landscape. Join us again for an exciting time out on the trails learning how to decipher the story being told by the plants and animals all around us. We hope to see you there!</p>
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