Owls and More
Firstly, I would like to let you know why I chose the owl as the symbol for the “Little Explorers Nature School”.
The owl has been one of my favorite birds since I was young. On my father’s farm there was a barn for farm machines with storage of hay and straw in the upper story. That’s where the Tawny Owl lived. She was very smart because she always found different places in the barn to hide so we had a hard time catching a glimpse of her.
As soon as twilight started, she flew out gallantly, silently, and quickly. Around dawn, she returned the same way. She was beautiful.
Owls look smart with their flat face and big eyes which resembles the human face more closely than other birds. Owls are a symbol not only of being smart, but also of being wise, observant, patient, quiet, speaking when they have something to share, independent… the list could go on. That’s what we want for our children because they are our future.
To have the Great Horned Owl as my logo seems to me the perfect fit!
A fun fact, as I recently learned: the Great Horned Owl is Alberta’s provincial bird! Following a province-wide children’s vote, the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) became the official bird in 1977. The children selected this beautiful bird because it lives in Alberta year-round and to symbolize the growing concern about threatened wildlife, not only in Alberta but around the world.
My preschool is not only a Montessori preschool, it is also a nature preschool. Around half the time we will be outdoors. Being outdoors with the children on our acreage, they will have a chance to see Great Horned Owls. The pair lives behind our acreage and each year they get owlets.
The Northern Saw-Whet Owl you can see on my homepage lives here as well.
Surrounded by forest and wetland prairie, there are lots of different birds on our acreage and flying over our acreage, especially in the spring and summertime: the Baltimore Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Yellow Warbler, American Goldfinch, Killdeer, Blue Jay, American Robin, Mourning Dove, White Breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and other songbirds and birds of prey like the owls, Red Tailed Hawk, even the Golden Eagle and the Bald Eagle, because Red Deer River is nearby.
The Bald Eagle is very special to me. At age 12 I held one on my left hand, covered with a leather glove. This impressive strong bird was very heavy to me, and the ornithological warden had to help me lift it.
In 2006, our Honeymoon in Alberta was stunning, mostly in the Rocky Mountains, where I saw the Bald Eagle for the first time in the wild, soaring above a lake. I was amazed to see my favorite bird of prey in freedom! Alberta is beautiful! Wide open space, forest, prairie, mountains, rivers, and lakes with all kinds of wild animals and plants. The sky here in Alberta is special too. It is very different from Germany, so very open.
On our acreage we see amazing sunrises many mornings and often, when looking out over the field, we can see foxes, coyotes, deer, and other animals.
To know the names of the animals and to know about their behavior, their sounds, their habitats, their unique needs, fascinating abilities, and more… to know about the plants, to feel, smell and taste them, and to know about the weather, brings us even closer to nature.
Doing it this way makes it easy to stay always connected to God’s beautiful and stunning creation, even later on. This keeps us grounded in many situations.
Tawny Owl image: Anil Öztas, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Great Horned Owl Image: Peter K Burian, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
