Coming up on March 6 - 8 is the International Festival of Owls in
Houston, MN. The original intent of the festival was to celebrate Alice
the Great Horned Owl's "hatchday" but over the years this festival has
grown to become the only full-weekend, all-owl event in the world,
including many activities for both kids and adults.
Friday evening will feature a program from the World Bird Sanctuary
including a live owl flight demonstration and several foreign owl
species. Afterwards there will be owl prowls to various areas around
Hoooston to call in wild owls (both family and adult bus tours are
available). Saturday will include another live owl program by the World
Bird Sanctuary as well as a native owl program given by the Raptor
Education Group of Antigo, Wisconsin.
The banquet on Saturday night will feature a keynote presentation by
Norman Smith on his nearly three decades of research on Snowy Owls at
Logan International Airport in Boston. (How handy to have a Snowy Owl
expert at the festival given the number of Snowy Owls coming south this
winter!) He is a passionate, engaging, and humorous speaker, as well as
highly knowledgeable.
Norman is a self-taught naturalist who has worked for the Massachusetts
Audubon Society since 1974. His current position is
Director of Blue Hills Trailside Museum and Chickatawbut Hill Education
Center in Milton, Massachusetts. He has studied birds of prey for over
30 years, including rehabilitating the injured and successfully
fostering over 800 orphaned hawk and owl chicks into adoptive nests.
World Owl Hall of Fame awards will also be presented for outstanding
achievement of both owls and humans hooo have made a difference in our
world. Great Gray Owl expert and author Dr. James Duncan from Winnipeg
will be there to receive an award as will Maryann Duke, widow of Gary
Duke, co-founder of the University of Minnesota Raptor Center.
Attention Photographers!!!
Sunday morning, photographers will have an opportunity to photograph
owls in natural settings. This year, four owls from the Raptor Education
Group will be featured: Northern Saw-whet, gray morph Eastern Screech,
Barred and Great Horned. This is an excellent
opportunity to get some excellent photographs and meet fellow
photographers for brunch.
Please be aware that tickets to both the banquet on Saturday night and
the photo shoot on Sunday go fast!
For more information and to register, please visit:
http://www.festivalofowls.com/
On a personal note this is my forth year attending the event and not
only is it a fun activity for both young and old, but educational as
well. Karla Kinstler (Nature Center Director / Naturalist) has done an
excellent job in organizing the festival and it has truly become an
international event.
-- Alan Stankevitz
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