Kids get close to nature at Willowbrook holiday open house

The questions came fast at Willowbrook Wildlife Center volunteer Kim Wilhelm, seemingly faster than the great horned owl perched on her arm could fly.

"How do you keep him from flying away?" asked one boy, part of a group of kids from Tiger Pack 150, out of St. Petronille Parish in Glen Ellyn.

"See that?" Wilhelm responded, showing off a wire attached to the bird's leg.

"What does he eat?" asked another.

"Mice, usually, and a few skunks," she responded.

"Ewww!" came the collective moan of the group gathered around the pair.

"How big is his stomach," blurted out another boy.

And the questions just came on coming.

Dozens of parents and kids spent Saturday afternoon roaming the Glen Ellyn wildlife center during an afternoon holiday open house.

Volunteers were stationed throughout the park, helping children get their photos taken with Santa, providing hayrides throughout the complex, and most importantly, fielding the barrage of queries kids usually have at the ready whenever they see a big, old animal worth petting.

"The idea was just to get the folks out and enjoying the day," said Sandy Fejt, the center's education site manager. "You don't get this at a mall."

Not the birds.

Not the picture-perfect snow-capped trees nestled along the stream out back.

And certainly not the pair of big, burly gray Clydesdales pulling a wagon full of kids toward four-year-old Riley Murrin and her mother, Hollie.

"It's like a Budweiser commercial," Hollie said. "If only they had a big space heater out here."