INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF OWLS
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  • Kids' Art Contest
  • Festival Events & Programs
    • Schedule
    • Reception
    • Birding Bus Trip
    • Kid Stuff >
      • Kids' Activities and Programs
      • Kids' Hooting Contest
    • Medallion Hunt
    • Nest Box Building
    • Owl Prowls
    • Owl-Themed Food
    • Owl Pellet Dissection
    • Programs >
      • Live Owl Programs
      • Special Programs
    • Vendors
  • Registration
  • Directions & Lodging
  • Festival History
  • World Owl Hall of Fame
    • Hall of Fame Home
    • 2025
    • 2024
    • 2023
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
    • 2010
    • 2009
    • 2008
    • 2007
    • 2006
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact Us
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF OWLS

Kids' Hooting Contest

We hope you give a hoot! Each year we hold a hooting contest for kids, giving them the chance to show how well they can imitate owl calls. To participate come to the program at 1:00 at the Houston High School on Saturday to sign up and learn how to hoot. Groups of 5 kids will come up front at a time. Each child will announce the owl species they are imitating, then do their best to hoot, toot, or whistle like their chosen North American species. Judges will award points based on the correctness of rhythm and voice quality. When the children have finished we should have time for a few brave adults to imitate some owl calls too.
The top three kids are given medals, and everyone gets a participation prize for being brave enough to hoot like an owl in front of a large audience.
Recommended species to imitate include:
Great Horned Owl  (Bubo virginianus)
Barred Owl (Strix varia)
Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus)
Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio)
Great Gray Owl  (Strix nebulosa)
Long-eared Owl  (Asio otus)
If you're interested in brushing up on your hooting skills, you can review the calls of various other owl species at
The Owl Pages
​
Owling.com
Xeno-canto.org
1:00 PM Saturday, March 8, 2025 at the Houston High School
No pre-registration necessary, but an admission wristband is required.

The 2025 international festival of owls is made possible by:

Major Sponsors
International Owl Center logo: line art of the face of a Great Horned Owl in maroon with the text
Vendi Advertising logo:
Houston Public Schools logo: Four long, curved silver triangles forming the shape of a hurricane inside a red circle, surrounded by a gray circle with the text
Houston Public Schools
Bob Kierlin and Mary Burrichter
●
​​Elizabeth Callender King Foundation

$1,000 Great Gray Owl Enthusiasts
Altra logo:
Kiwidyne logo: A vertical gradient of sky blue to white. The text
Driftless Art Academy logo: A dark blue-gray box with three blue spatters and a large blue paint smear. Overlaid is
Picture
Rushford State Bank logo: Two green shapes like bluffs with a white river curving between them and two simple black birds flying above. To the right,

$500 Great Horned Owl Advocates
Zumbro Valley Audubon logo: A green square with the white silhouette of a songbird sitting on a branch, leading into white text of
Prairie Moon logo: A light gray circle with the outlines of purple wildflowers with the text

​​$250 Barred Owl Contributors
MiEnergy logo: in lowercase letters,
New Albin Savings Bank logo: A circle containing swirling blue, green and white shapes, with the text
AcenTek logo: The word
Picture
Lions logo: A blue and yellow circular design with a large
Houston Lions

​​$100 Screech Owl Supporters
Bluff Country Financial Services    ●    Caledonia Veterinary Clinic      ●    Houston Dental Clinic    ●    Houston Hoedown Days    ●    JT's Bar & Grill    ●    ​Money Creek Haven    ●    Mound Prairie Mutual Insurance    ●    The Sawmill Inn     ●    ​The Wen Inn

The International Festival of Owls would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors.
Please contact us for information on having your business or organization become a sponsor, and please patronize our sponsors.

Many thanks are due to our prize donors and the army of volunteers that make this event possible.