Post by madratdan on Oct 29, 2006 10:12:05 GMT -5
From the Brownsville Herald..........
Trick or Learn
Birding center gives children an educational Halloween
By MICHAEL BARNETT
The Monitor
WESLACO, October 29, 2006 — For Halloween, forget pumpkin carving and those little bags of Skit-tles.
How about countering misconceptions about animals at a state park?
That was the idea behind a Halloween festival Saturday at the Estero Llano Grande State Park World Birding Center, where scores of youngsters learned that most bats don’t drink blood, and owls don’t turn into witches.
There were also plenty of Halloween standards, including costumes, decorations and, of course, a di-verse selection of candy.
“We figured we could pique the local community’s curiosity to learn about owls, snakes, spiders and bats,” park superintendent Martha Martinez said.
Donna Berry and her husband of 37 years, Walter, manned a room called the bat cave, where visitors viewed a dead Southern Yellow Bat and learned that Rio Grande Valley bats are insect-eaters — meaning they don’t want to suck your blood.
“Anything we can do for the good of bats, we’re happy to do it,” said Donna Berry, the office manager and outreach coordinator for the Nature Conservancy of Texas Southmost Preserve in Brownsville.
Walter, president of the Texas Master Naturalist’s Rio Grande Valley chapter, noted, “Halloween is supposed to be fun, fun, fun, but if you throw a little education in with it, it’s good for the kids.”
The children agreed. Carlos Garcia, 11, of Weslaco was having fun and learning a lot during his first visit to the World Birding Center.
“There’s arts and crafts, and you get to see animals,” he said as he made a frog out of green construc-tion paper.
Sydney Swatsworth, 8, of Pharr came to the bat cave as Batgirl. She said an educational Halloween was better than just hitting up her neighbors for candy.
“You don’t actually learn when you’re trick-or-treating,” she said. “You just pick up candy from nice people.”
Link to story www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=73529_0_10_0_C
Trick or Learn
Birding center gives children an educational Halloween
By MICHAEL BARNETT
The Monitor
WESLACO, October 29, 2006 — For Halloween, forget pumpkin carving and those little bags of Skit-tles.
How about countering misconceptions about animals at a state park?
That was the idea behind a Halloween festival Saturday at the Estero Llano Grande State Park World Birding Center, where scores of youngsters learned that most bats don’t drink blood, and owls don’t turn into witches.
There were also plenty of Halloween standards, including costumes, decorations and, of course, a di-verse selection of candy.
“We figured we could pique the local community’s curiosity to learn about owls, snakes, spiders and bats,” park superintendent Martha Martinez said.
Donna Berry and her husband of 37 years, Walter, manned a room called the bat cave, where visitors viewed a dead Southern Yellow Bat and learned that Rio Grande Valley bats are insect-eaters — meaning they don’t want to suck your blood.
“Anything we can do for the good of bats, we’re happy to do it,” said Donna Berry, the office manager and outreach coordinator for the Nature Conservancy of Texas Southmost Preserve in Brownsville.
Walter, president of the Texas Master Naturalist’s Rio Grande Valley chapter, noted, “Halloween is supposed to be fun, fun, fun, but if you throw a little education in with it, it’s good for the kids.”
The children agreed. Carlos Garcia, 11, of Weslaco was having fun and learning a lot during his first visit to the World Birding Center.
“There’s arts and crafts, and you get to see animals,” he said as he made a frog out of green construc-tion paper.
Sydney Swatsworth, 8, of Pharr came to the bat cave as Batgirl. She said an educational Halloween was better than just hitting up her neighbors for candy.
“You don’t actually learn when you’re trick-or-treating,” she said. “You just pick up candy from nice people.”
Link to story www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=73529_0_10_0_C