Lynn Museum reopening takes flight

LYNN – Hollywood magic made the animals at the American Museum of Natural History come alive in the 2006 movie “Night at the Museum.” But no magic was required Monday at the Lynn Museum, as local families gathered to craft dinosaurs, watch the movie and be amazed by a live bird demonstration.”You will be making that noise a lot during the program,” Jim Parks, of Wingmasters raptor rehabilitation, said as the audience went “oooh!” over a small, brightly colored falcon called an American kestrel.More than 100 people, most under age 10, attended Night at the Museum at the Lynn Museum on Monday afternoon. It was the first event at the museum since Dec. 21, when the organization closed for renovations that included a new lighting system on the second floor and refurbishment of the museum’s first-floor gallery, according to programs assistant Doneeca Thurston. (A bus crashing into the building on Jan. 24 also delayed the opening, Thurston added.)The event was one of the museum’s seasonal family nights. Children could watch a Lego demonstration by the St. John’s Preparatory School robotics team and could craft their own dinosaurs out of paper. The event also included a showing of the 2006 film about a new security guard at the American Museum of Natural History who must save the museum, and his job, after the exhibits come alive one night.”It’s a good way to promote the museum,” said parent Sarah McLaughlin, whose 3-year-old daughter Emma wore pajamas and carried the biggest teddy bear in the room.But it was Parks, not Hollywood, who made the exhibits in the Lynn Museum come alive.Parks brought the world’s fastest animal, the peregrine falcon; a barn owl, of which there are only six pairs living in Massachusetts; the state’s most common bird of prey, the red-tailed hawk; and other raptors.Each of the animals had been injured and were unable to be returned to the wild. Several of the species could be found in Lynn, explained Parks, a city native. And children oohed and ahhed, and cellphones snapped pictures as the birds flapped their wings and surveyed their new surroundings.Nakayla, 9, said afterwards that she liked the barn owl the best. “It has a heart-shaped face,” she explained.But her sister Caelyn, 5, said “the little one at the end,” the Northern Saw-whet owl, was her favorite. The 3-ounce owl is, Parks admitted during the program, very cute.Alas, Parks informed a curious child after the program that even he could not pet the bird.And as the afternoon hour got later, the exhibits went back to rest. So the children gathered on the floor to watch some exhibits come alive, thanks to Hollywood.