What happens when you combine live owls, owl pellets, and craft events with children? An awesome day of learning and wonderment at the International Festival of Owls in Houston, MN.
The festival has events in multiple locations throughout the community. Included are a Story Walk that starts at the Public Library, an Owl Face Pancake Breakfast at the Lutheran church, and a chainsaw carving of an Owl Bench at
Fun Fact: The Festival began in 2003 to celebrate the Owl Center’s matriarch, Alice the Great Horned Owl’s “hatch-day”. Alice officially retired in 2018 and will be 22 years old this year.
Exploring the Center and learning about owls
At the International Owl Center, we met Jo and her friend JR, who is an Eastern Screech-Owl during the Short Attention Span Program they have for kids. This little guy serves as an ambassador owl in the center. The children were fascinated by how small he was (about the size of a robin) and by the sounds he makes.
Fun Fact: The smallest Owl in North America is the Northern Saw-whet Owl, these little guys are about 2-4 cm smaller than JR )
Meeting the owls!
The kids enjoyed getting to meet the owls up close. During our visit, we got to meet JR (Eastern Screech-Owl),Ruby (Great Horned Owl), Uhu (Eurasian Eagle Owl),and Piper (American Barn Owl).
Tip: Planning a trip to meet the owls and want a fun way to get the kids excited with
Fun fact: Owls have three eyelids, one for the day (upper), one for at night (lower) and one to protect the eyes (nictitating membrane). The upper eyelid closes downward, the lower eyelid closes upward and the nictitating membrane closes diagnally from the upper inside corner outward.
Love owls and want to help support the center, but not sure how?
Check out our list of ways to make a direct impact on current programs and future expansions!
Annual Memberships – Perfect for people living in MN, WI, IA that can make the trip to visit the center
Dinner for the Owls – Meal plans range from one night to one month
Cash donations – PayPal for online donations, the center also accepts checks via mail
Amazon Smile – Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the Center after you select it as the charity you wish to support. If you have never used Smile before, the first time, you will need to pick a charity (i.e., International Owl Center).
*Side note: If you love photography and guide books, check out the fantastic guide “Owls of the World: A Photographic Guide” with the Amazon link.
Exhibits and Crafts
The Festival had some impressive educational exhibits, including one from the Zumbro Valley Audobon society. Note: This was the kids’ favorite display.
In addition to the exhibits, there were multiple crafting areas that the kids spent a considerable amount of time interacting with. The youngest member of the team still proudly talks about her owl necklace that mom and her made.
Owl Pellets – The owl version of a skeleton treasure hunt?
Owls are unable to digest the fur, feathers, and bones of small animals they hunt, so they must throw up the pellets. One of the educational experiences available during the festival was to be able to dissect owl pellets to see what the owl had eaten. Of course, the boys wanted to participate and spent time meticulously examining and sorting the various bones with the bone sorting chart. We learned that one of the owls had feasted on moles, while the other preferred a rodent we could not identify.
TIP: You can have a fun environmental science activity at home discussing the predator/prey relationship that owls have by purchasing sterilized owl pellets online (the center recommends purchasing heat-treated pellets) and having a
Giant owl and prowls
While they may not have the largest wingspan, the younger kids were sure this was the largest owl they had ever seen! The older team members enjoyed seeing Hooston at the event, but are looking forwarding to the possibility of hearing and maybe seeing a local owl while attending one of the Owl Prowls that the Center puts on during the year.
Wrapping up our adventure…
We spoke with Karla Bloem, Executive Director of the International Owl Center about what she felt the most important thing that people know about the Festival and the Center?
“I think the most important thing I’d like people to know about the International Owl Center is that we are the only all-owl education center in the United States, and the Center is an outgrowth of the success of the International Festival of Owls. We had no idea that when we started this hatch-day party for Alice the Great Horned Owl back in 2003 that it was the only event of its kind, and things kind of got out of hand from there. Our goal is to make the world a better place for owls by helping people learn how to live owl-friendly lives, since humans are the biggest problem for owls. Nearly everyone is unaware of how they negatively impact owls, and are happy to change behaviors when we make them aware of the impacts of their actions.”
