Scouts and their leaders took a flashlight tour of the Illinois Raptor Center property during an evening owl prowl.

It's Pupil and Iris. No wait, it's Cornea and Retina posing for a photo in their unique and creative halloween costumes.

Girl scouts gather around the fire before roasting hot dogs and marshamallows for dinner.

Marshmallows are roasted to perfection - at least for some tastes.

Diary of a Restoration

18th Installment, Oct. 22, 2005

Our annual "Spooktacular" blended fun and education. Kids came in costumes and experienced the traditional hot dog and marshmallow roast.

But,they also participated in a variety of fun, but educational, activities. Scouts practiced hooting like barred and great horned owls, worked together to find answers like scientists do, and dissected owl pellets.

Geist the barn owl illustrated how owls may be the basis for many ghost stories.

The crowning event of the evening was an evening owl prowl hike around the IRC property. Kids got to see seven species of live owls displayed in appropriate habitats.

Scouts even learned how barn owls, with their otherworldly screams, may be the basis for many old ghost stories.

Kids were able to see screech, short-eared, long-eared, barn, barred, great-horned and snowy owls in one evening!

Scouts color pictures of hawks, owls and falcons.

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