Hundreds celebrate Earth Day at Upper Newport Bay

Orange County Parks and the Newport Bay Conservancy attracted hundreds of people for Earth Day at the Bay on Sunday at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center at Upper Newport Bay.

The free event offered family-friendly attractions including live animal presentations, arts and crafts, science activities, food trucks, a scavenger hunt, prize drawings and music from Danny Maika.

A great horned owl was part of a demonstration by the Orange County Bird of Prey Center. Its handler, Hal Batzloff, joked to the crowd that the owl has its own chef, butler and groomer.

SUSAN HOFFMAN is a contributor to Times Community News.