The mission of the International Festival of Owls is to:

- spark a personal connection to owls and the environments we share with them

- provide financial support for the Houston Nature Center

- stimulate tourism in the Houston area.

Meet Rusty and Iris, two Great Horned Owls who can't live in the wild but CAN breed in captivity to help us learn more about the vocalizations of their species.  Rusty was hit by a car and is blind in his right eye, and Iris's right eye was punctured, leaving her blind in her right eye also.  They are still wild owls and need their privacy to breed, so they are housed on private property in rural Houston.  But this video stream allows you to share their lives from anywhere in the world.

YOU CAN HELP!

If you hear or see something cool on this video stream, please go to Alice's blog and post your observations in the comments section along with the time that it occurred.  We've got 24 hours of video from several cameras every day to sort through, so your observations will help us find and save the important parts.  Important observations include:

-Squawks, hisses, or bill clacking

-Rusty and Iris preening each other

-Egg laying

-Bathing

You can also make a tax-deductible contribution through the Friends of the Houston Nature Center to support this project. We have ongoing montly expenses for extra internet bandwidth necessary to stream the video feeds, as well as miscellaneous expenses like extra infrared illuminators, a new streaming computer, a heated food table, vet bills, and other things that may pop up from time to time.  You can donate using the PayPal Donate button below.  A PayPal account is not required--you can also make a donation using a credit card through the PayPal link.  Or you can mail a check (please indicate it's for the Great Horned Owl breeding project) to:

Friends of the Houston Nature Center

PO Box 731

Houston, MN 55943

Visit Alice's blog to see a full listing of all project donors and volunteers.

History of this project

The Houston Nature Center has had a heavy emphasis on owls since its inception in 2001.  Thanks to a Great Horned Owl named Alice, the Center's only live animal, humans are finally beginning to understand the language of her species a little bit better.

Alice lives and works with her handler, Houston Nature Center Director/Naturalist Karla (Kinstler) Bloem.  As a human imprint, Alice views Karla as her mate and thus directs her vocalizations toward her.  In her quest to better understand Alice, Karla found that no one had ever studied the vocalizations of the Great Horned Owl despite its status as a common species. 

She began recording Alice and the wild owls in her rural yard who woke her up in the middle of the night.  She also made some recordings at wild nests.  But in order to document the complete vocal repertoire of the species, more detailed recordings around the nest site before, during, and after incubation and rearing were necessary.

To this end the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have granted Karla permits to breed a permanently injured pair of Great Horned Owls.  They are housed in a 12 x 36' breeding cage outfitted with remote cameras and microphones so they can be observed without being disturbed.  A 10 x 60' release training cage is attached to the breeding cage so the young owls can naturally disperse from their parents and strengthen their flight muscles before eventually being released.  Click here to see a general diagram of the cage layout.

This captive breeding situation will help us:

-Document the complete vocal repertoire of the Great Horned Owl and associated behaviors

-Track the development of the territorial hoot in young owls

-Determine the stability of the territorial hoot of individual owls over time

-Determine if individuals can be identified by their territorial hoot

-Determine if there are any inherited territorial hoot characteristics

-Determine the differences in the territorial hoots of males and females 

This research will help future Great Horned Owl researchers understand their study subjects much better and may prevent the need for capturing and radio tracking owls to identify individual birds.  It will be a long-term project, and will also serve to start generating the necessary interest and publicity to create a North American Owl Center in Houston.

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For more information about this project contact Karla (Kinstler) Bloem at 507-896-4668 or nature@acegroup.cc.

Thank you for your support and interest!