Spooktacular Halloween at Mountsberg

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICOLE CALHAU

The gloomy day at Mountsberg didn’t stop a crowd of 250 people from enjoying  the conservation area’s Spooktacular event.

On Saturday, Oct. 24 the park was filled with happy faces of children and their parents as they got to experience Mountsberg.

“This will be our second year visiting Mountsberg and the family loves it. Despite the rain, they throw great educational events for the kids,” said Donald Molly.

Visitors took part in painting pumpkins, arts and crafts, snake presentations, face painting, a haunted barn and a live birds of prey presentation all indoors.

Lara Butt the Raptor Centre bird interpreter with Echo the eastern screech owl. (Photography by Nicole Calhau/ The Sheridan Sun

Brenna Bartley, education coordinator, makes sure to celebrate the opportunities that focus on community building, and throwing events like Spooktacular does that.

“Spooktacular gives us an opportunity to have people come who wouldn’t traditionally come to Mountsberg and take part in our environmentally based programming but still gives them an awesome the opportunity to go out as a family and enjoy nature,” said Bartley.

The volunteers at Mountsberg are the glue of this operation, caring for all the animals in the conservation area.

“We have a volunteer program at the Raptor Centre, we couldn’t run the Raptor Centre without our volunteer compliments, making sure bird pens are cleaned and they’re being cared after. Our volunteers are extremely valuable,” Barley explains.

The Mountsberg Conservation Area offers birds a chance to live out the remainder of their lives since they can no longer live in the wild. Some birds are either harmed by humans, abandoned at a young age and don’t know how to survive alone or are injured in the wild.

Mountsberg offers those birds a safe haven, although they are not a care facility. They cannot offer birds medical attention a veterinarian would at an animal hospital, but they do offer a safe home and lifelong care.

“It’s a small turn out because of the rain, but I’m glad people are still coming to enjoy what the park has to offer everyone. It’s a great way to get people out and learn about Mountsberg,” said Sam Ansaldi, a shrike technician at Mountsberg Conservation Area.

During Spooktacular, attendees had the opportunity to sit during a live bird of prey presentation. It showcased two birds that live at the Raptor Centre, Buzz the turkey vulture and Echo the eastern screech owl. Lara Butt, the Raptor Centre interpreter explained the importance of how these birds live day to day compared to the wild.

Attending Mountsberg you get to have the opportunity to learn so much about the raptors, they cover all kinds of different facts about each bird in their care and even how you can make a difference in the health of these birds. Click here to see how much you know about these birds.