Owl Prowl at the Park

How does Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area Ranger Jerry Hightower get no less than 30 gradeschool-age children to sit still and keep quiet outside on a cool autumn weekend evening?

He introduces them to a real live adult male barred owl.

Hightower, a 33-year veteran of the Chattahoochee NRA, along with other park staff and Chattahoochee Nature Center Naturalist Liz Platner, hosted the Autumn Owl Prowl Saturday night at the Jones Bridge unit’s environmental education lodge.

The free and public event also featured a guided night hike led by Ranger Hightower. Afterward, a roaring campfire greeted those who took part in the hike so they could warm themselves and roast marshmallows provided by the park service.

The approximate 150 attendees ranged considerably in age. But the sight of the strikingly majestic, nocturnal predatory bird mere feet from their seats had even the grownups gasping in as much awe as the youngsters writhing in their laps trying to get a closer look.

The barred owl, also known as the hoot owl, is common to the southeast United States, Platner explained during a Q&A with the audience.

Dense forests and an abundance of rivers and streams throughout Georgia, and especially the Chattahoochee National Forest corridor, create ideal habitats for these opportunistic predators.

The barred owl's call is best described mnemonically as “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all.”

It was Platner’s first time presenting to the Owl Prowl crowd, she said. But her one-pound companion held his perch and everyone’s attention with relative ease.

The owl Platner carried during Saturday’s presentation is one of many wild, indigenous animals the Chattahoochee Nature Center takes in to nurture back to health. While its goal is to mend and release, some injuries are irreversible. 

This particular owl was found injured on the side of the road, presumably hit by a car, Platner said. It suffered a broken clavicle and lost its left eye as a result, rendering it non-releasable since owls depend on their keen sense of site to survive in the wild, she added. 

“These presentations create an awareness and appreciation of wildlife that people don’t typically get see every day,” Hightower said.

The next big public event at Jones Bridge NRA is Dec. 3, with a winter campfire activity and guided night hike.

A winter Owl Prowl also is planned for mid-February, Hightower added.

For more information about Chattahoochee NRA activities and educational programs, call 678-538-1200 or visit www.nps.gov/chat.