The Owl Eye Spring 2016

Barn Owl from IRC (Above) Photo: Bryan Banister
Eastern Screech Owl, Red Morph, IRC, Photo: Bryan
Banister
Lunch time brought us to JT’s Bar and
Grill. The Fetival did supply a lunch at the High
School, but we decided to go out to the town of
Houston and see other places. JT’s was packed
with owl lovers (you can tell by the bright green
entry stickers on their jackets, and by the way
they were discussing the day’s owl events) and
with a variety of mounted animals on the wall,
but the one and only owl was a painting. Many
people were dressed in hunting jackets. The
fare consisted of burgers, specialty burgers and
sandwiches, and a salad bar. The bartender and
one waitress seemed to be pretty busy with the
Festival goers and estimated a 45 minute wait for
a cheeseburger, so I crossed the street and paid
a visit to the International Owl Center, run by
Karla Bloem and her staff.
The Center was teeming with adults and
childresn alike. I could see that it would be
difficult to get a good look at all of the owl items
in the store including jewelery, T-shirts, books,
magnets, bags, scarves, plush toys, puzzles, games,
you name it! And of course, being the editor of
the Owl Eye and loving all things owl, I wanted
to have some time to enjoy this wonderful place
filled with owl gifts.
In the back of the Center is where the education
birds, Iris, the Great Horned Owl, Ruby and
Rupert (sibling Great Horned Owls) Uhu
the Eurasian Eagle Owl ( a very big owl) were
perched in large cubicles greeting all of the
Festival guests. At this point I could hardly get
in to get a good look, but snapped a few iPone
pictures just the same. I would wait for my
photographer, Bryan Banister, and I to get a
better look the next day on Sunday.
Lunch had arrived ( in less than the 45 minute
estimate) and I scurried back to JT’s to enjoy my
California Burger.
3:00 PM brought us back to the gynamsium of Houston High to catch the next presentation from
Illinois Raptor Center. This time they discussed tree-climbing in more detail and their work related to
rescuing young owls and renesting them. The most interesting tidbit that was shared was that some
baby owlets were found and four days later put back into their nest. This was an unusual timeline
because most owl moms will consider the owlets dead after that many days, but this owl mom came
back to the previously abandonded nest after the four day period to continue to take care of her
rescued owlets.
IRC then brought out a Barn Owl (left), Barred Owl (center) and the Eastern Screech both red and
grey morphs (below, left).
47