Halloween Edition
View on HAS web site.

HAVE A HOOTFULLY WONDERFUL HALLOWEEN!

Poco would like to remind everyone to have a "GREEN Halloween." She has been having regular "Hooting" times with the neighborhood Eastern Screech-Owls. They have come up with some helpful hootful hints to green your Halloween.

Give your Trick-or-Treaters Hershey's Kisses and tell them to recycle the foil. More than 20,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of tinfoil. All of the tinfoil is recyclable.
Shop for your Pumpkins at local farmers markets or farms. Support organic agricultural practices. Roast and enjoy the seeds or share them with wildlife. Roast your pumpkin's seeds at 250 degrees for one hour to serve as a tasty snack for birds and other wildlife throughout the winter. Make pumpkin pie! Compost your pumpkins when you are finished with them. The use of pesticides on pumpkins varies by climate and region, but among the worst used are the organophosphates malathion, a nervous system toxin and possible human carcinogen, and diazinon, a nervous system toxin. To make your Halloween truly green, search for organically grown or pesticide-free pumpkins in your area at LocalHarvest.
Make your own costume or choose a costume that can be recycled or used more than one time. Pass down your costume to younger kids to use next year.
Give Endangered Species Chocolate, a company that sources its shade-grown cacao from small, family-owned farms in Nigeria, sells bite-sized squares of dark or milk chocolate for Halloween. They come in orange and black wrappers and have no processed sugar, hydrogenated fats, or pesticides and growth hormones. Endangered Species also donates 10 percent of its net profits to help support endangered species and their habitats as well as social causes. Look for the "Fair Trade Certified" label, which ensures that chocolate farmers were paid a fair price for their crop. Global Exchange also sells Fair Trade Certified Equal Exchange chocolates.

Words of Wisdom from Tskili, Poco, and Romeo

A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren't we like that wise old bird?

"The atmospheric conditions have been very unfavorable lately," said Owl.
"The what?"
"It has been raining," explained Owl.
"Yes," said Christopher Robin. "It has."
"The flood-level has reached an unprecedented height."
"The who?"
"There's a lot of water about," explained Owl.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Bayou Buddies

Celeste and Eagle

Celeste enjoys her EAGLE at Bayou Buddies "E is for Eagle" day. Bayou Buddies continues to attract young children from around the Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center area. November will find us discovering hummingbirds, ladybugs, and many other amazing creatures. Join us every Friday from 10 - 11:30 AM. Call 713-640-2407 and ask for Vicki for more information.

Family Movie Night at the Bayou Barn

Don't forget to join us for Family Movie Night on November 13: The Trials of Life — Finding The Way. Refreshments are at 6:30 PM and the movie starts at 7:00 PM. You do not need to make reservations. We ask for a $1.00 donation per person. Come and enjoy the movie, popcorn, and lemonade.

Holiday at the Cabin: December 1

Come and enjoy the holiday season at Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center, from 5 to 9 PM on December 1. Gather round the wood stove with hot apple cider, fresh holiday cookies, songs of the season, and friends. We will have special discounts in the nature store and holiday crafts for the kids to make. Get your "green" holiday shopping done early and support the educational programs of Houston Audubon Society.

RECENT PROGRAMS

Romeo meets the students at Dunbar Middle School in Dickinson. The 6th grade students study owls and thanks to their dedicated teachers they spent the day meeting the "real" thing.

Last month we visited the Newport Garden Club. Etta Guillot, the Club President, sent us these comments: "I do want to tell you that your program was one of the best that I ever remember our club having. When we went in to have lunch the ladies were all talking about your birds and what a beautiful talk you gave to us. Everyone commented on how it seemed as though we had all known you for a good while and were so comfortable with you. Thank you for coming to our club and for sharing such interesting information about birds and about Mr. Audubon's history. I do wish you well in all your endeavors. I know that you are right when you say that children do love getting out and digging in the dirt and planting things but it is up to us, an older generation, to give them the push that they need. Again, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us."

The HAS Education Department spent an October Saturday in Conroe to support the Texas Forest Expo. Over 200 kids and adults stopped by the booth to meet Poco, the Eastern Screech-Owl, shop at the nature store, make owl origami, and owl masks. Vicki enjoyed meeting Smokey the Bear and Jadan tried on fire fighting equipment when he wasn't helping teach kids about bird migration with our Just Ducky game.

SEEN IN OUR BACKYARD

Red-shouldered Hawks

Lynn Forster sent this photo and called us about what was happening on a friend's driveway:

"It was September 26 about 2:30 on a clear day in Kingwood when the doorbell rang, and the young men working on the siding on the house across the street (I was at my friend's home) said we had to come and see these birds in her driveway. I grabbed the camera and out we went. The young men kept saying, "Boy this is something right out of the Discovery Channel!"

I concluded that the Red-shouldered Hawks were fighting. The young men had seen a third bird in the air. When they finally split, the pinned bird sat on the edge of the driveway, while the "attacker" was in a tree ... but not for long. It swooped down again on the freed bird who darted around the trees and vanished. The whole thing happened over a 30 minute period ... awesome!"

In Houston exciting wildlife can be found in our own backyards. Do you have a discovery you'd like to tell us about? We invite our Houston Audubon members to send us any stories and photos they'd like to share. Please send them to Vicki Vroble.

— Mary Anne Weber, Education Director
— Vicki Vroble, Environmental Educator
— Katerina Graham, Naturalist

Have you joined the Houston Audubon family? Become a member!

www.houstonaudubon.org | Telephone 713-932-1639 | Contact Us | Privacy Policy

This e-mail was sent by the Houston Audubon Society
440 Wilchester Boulevard Houston, TX 77079
Unsubscribe | Update Your Profile | Comments About This E-Mail
To ensure these e-mails get into your inbox, please add news@houstonaudubon.org to your address book or safe sender list.