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By Andrew White | Staff Writer

A lady holds a barred owl named Acuity and explains to a room full of high-paced heartbeats how the nine-year-old bird she is holding is about 1.5 pounds. Acuity stands proudly over the room towering over the children of the Chilton Public Library. A little kid shouts “Ain’t no way,” as he can no longer hold in his excitement. Acuity shows the little kid that he is also excited by fluttering its wings. 

This was not just a local bird viewing event, but the fourth Monday event in the Chilton County Library Summer Reading series. For the fourth event in the summer events at the library, the library partnered with Raptor Ridge Wildlife Education and Valerie Castanza for an educational afternoon about birds. 

Castanza brought four different birds — Dartanian the Screech Owl, Sassy the Great Horned Owl, Reba the Red Tailed Hawk and Acuity the Barred Owl. All four are birds of prey. 

“My big thing is I want to help our young people to develop an appreciation for our wildlife, environmental stewardship and taking care of our natural resources,” said Castanza. 

The library summer reading program is all about getting kids excited about reading and education while they are not in school. So far, there have been five events — Kickoff with Trey Katon’s Touch-a-Truck, Mr. Larry’s magic show, a paint party with the Relay for Life and  the Chilton County Swedish Queens, puppeteering comedy with Gene Cordova and the most recent Raptor Ridge event. 

“There are some kids that don’t get to go on vacation so this offers something free and fun that they get to do,” said library employee Jennifer Jones. “Also parents can get to hangout and let their kids play with other children.” 

There will be two more events — board games July 1 and movie night July 11. Mufasa will be played at the movie night. 

“I think (parents) like (these events) more,” said Jones. “I think the little kid comes out in them.” 

The events also pair with the Summer Reading Challenge. The challenge is by grade level ranging from grades kindergarten to sixth grade. Each person who reads the most books in each grade level will win $50. So far the library has seen over 3,000 checkouts from children this summer.