I love that...your field trip, the falcons, everything. Did the kids find it interesting?

Though some surely would NOT admit it, I think the trip was well received... middle to HS aged kids, need I say more?!? They saw this HUGE big grinder thing where wood was ground to make mulch. "Clean" wood like branches/roots. "Dirty" like building materials from demolitions. The clean stuff becomes mulch anybody could use. The "dirty" becomes mulch that gets layered in with trash on the "mountain" to help with its break down. Giant pile of what looked like gray sand?? Ended up being ground up recycled glass that would be used for extra drainage material. Would have been cool to SEE the falcons at work, but can't imagine reaction if/when the bird went after something!!

I read the first few words of your reply, and thought, "oh yeah middle school!!" I always love seeing behind the scenes anywhere and recently visited my local trash sorting facility. It's good to see how things work. Thanks for sharing.

The City of Milwaukee, WI used peregrine falcons to reduce the pigeon population. It worked.

Play spoons...what is that?

Some things will "click" and others maybe not but the exposure to new things is always good.

Some of my most brilliant ideas were flops and other seemingly useless tactics worked well. Lots of good ideas and simplifications came directly from the kids, from the mouths of babes!

Do you ever play charades?

Spoons... ah, technically I'd categorize it as a typical college "drinking" game. Similar to musical chairs, in a way. Say you have 6 players (the more the merrier) around the table... you have FIVE spoons. You deal out deck of cards till they're gone... doesn't have to come out even, but you need more than say 5-6 cards total. Dealer determines direction to pass and on his signal, you pass one card at a time, picking up whatever got passed to you. Object is to get 4 of a kind. Once you get 4 of a kind, you take a spoon and then everybody else grabs for one... spoon-less person is out... or ya drink?!? Seem to recall broken furniture, over-turned chairs, bruises, even blood at times??

Have noticed that if n activity/video/whatever isn't something kids already know by heart, have seen a zillion times, or had tons of special effects... not a lot of interest... unless sorta "forced" to watch. That and hardly ever watching an entire movie? DQM (don't quote me... my replacement for imo) buy if you can't tell me what happens to Carlo at the end of The Godfather, you haven't watched it.

Most people I know just want to donate money to kids causes. YOUR making a difference! Thank you!

I agree! Stimulating the brain cells is always a good thing! New synapses grow and brain activity increases all big plusses! I would have found that tour fascinating and it would be good for any age even us old folks lol. I wonder if the Falcons will also dive for the rats out there? That would be great too. Maybe they need to start Falcon patrols in the cities and areas that are consumed by pigeon and rats.