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The sixth annual International Festival of Owls kicks off Friday, drawing about 500 owl enthusiasts to Houston County.
“My personal highlight is the Owl Hall of Fame,” said Karla Kinstler, director of the Houston Nature Center and organizer of the festival. “We have the top owl biologists from all over the world nominated for making the world a better place for owls.”
Nominees this year come from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Kenya and Australia, Kinstler said.
Speakers for the three-day festival include Dr. C. Stuart Houston, an owl bander from Saskatchewan, Canada, and Marge Gibson, founder of the Raptor Education Group Inc. in Antigo, Wis.
Friday centers more on serious owl research, with a banquet and auction planned, along with the naming of the new Owl Hall of Fame inductee. The banquet is sold out, Kinstler said.
Saturday is family day, Kinstler said, with a host of activities aimed at kids, including face painting, owl pellet dissection and the “hatch day” party for Alice, the Houston Nature Center’s resident great horned owl. Other live native owls and, for the first time, several foreign owl species will be featured in programs. The day will end with an owl prowl to call in some of the birds that live in the area.
Sunday will focus on birding and photography, Kinstler said, with live owls available for photographing for a fee.
Some activities require preregistration and a fee. The event is spread over three locations: the Houston Community Center, Houston High School and the Houston Nature Center.
This is the only festival of its kind in the world, she said, and it can all be attributed to Alice the owl, who has remained in captivity with a wing injury since she fell out of a nest in 1997. The first festival in 2003 was put together to celebrate Alice’s hatching day, Kinstler said.
“She’s a bird with a lot of character,” Kinstler said of Alice. “She’s not just a bird in a cage. She’s a human imprint. She was raised around people. There’s all of this interaction you don’t normally hear about in an educational bird.”
If you go
WHAT: Sixth annual International Festival of Owls
WHEN: Friday through Sunday
WHERE: Most public activities at Houston High School or Houston Nature Center in Houston, Minn.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Go online to www.festivalofowls.com or call the Houston Nature Center at (507) 896-4668.
Ryan Stotts is a reporter for the La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune.
