Trick-Or-Tweet: CCA Cast Away Club Kids Build Halloween Treats for the Birds

Nearly 20 island youngsters, their parents, and grandparents gathered this past Saturday morning (October 26) at CCA’s Outdoor Education Center for the last CCA Cast Away Club event of the season, which featured a hands-on approach to learning more about our island’s birdlife as well as constructing a special treat for our feathered friends.

The morning’s program was developed and hosted by The Landings Association’s Community Programs Manager and nature expert, Dr. Kristin Peney. To help kids understand how the shape and size of a bird’s beak can tell us what it eats and how it catches its food, Peney had assembled a series of interactive displays where participants used various “beak-like” tools to obtain different types of bird food.

For example, participants had to use tweezers to pull beads out of holes drilled into a log, mimicking how a woodpecker uses its sharp beak. At the end of the session, tools used at each display were compared to different types of bird beaks.

With Halloween in mind, Peney also had a special do-it-yourself project for both kids and adults. First, she asked all the children to find a large pinecone. Everyone then used plastic knives to smear the cones with peanut butter and then rolled the cones in a bowl of birdseed. A string tied to the cone completed the project, a real treat for songbirds around our island.

After the workshop, everyone had the opportunity to go fishing in the Kids’ Lagoon with rods, reels, and bait provided by the Skidaway Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). Some hefty bluegills were reeled in!

Developed in cooperation with the Association, CCA’s Cast Away Club will resume next spring with a new series of summer-long nature workshops and fishing opportunities for both children and adults. Programs again will be held at the CCA Outdoor Education Center located at the Kid’s Fishing Lagoon off Log Landing Road and next to the Oakridge Fire Station.