Whoo’s Ready for the 10th Annual Festival of Owls!
Join us for the 10th Annual Festival of Owls at Humane Indiana Wildlife! Experience an exciting day full of activities, live owl encounters, and more!
This year's event is on track to welcome 1500 people for live owl encounters, educational presentations, kids' crafts, and more! The schedule of events is now live on our webpage, so check it out to see all of the programs and activities happening throughout the day!
📅 Saturday, November 15, 2025
🕘 9 AM – 4 PM
📍 Porter County Expo Center – 215 E Division Rd, Valparaiso, IN 46383
✨ Highlights: Don’t miss out on this hoot of an event!
- 🦉 Meet and greet live owls
- 🗣️ Presentations by Indiana Audubon Society and wildlife author and photographer, Paul Bannick
- 🎨 Fun kids' activities
- 🛍️ Local vendors and food trucks
Meet Paul Bannick at Festival of Owls
We are thrilled to host wildlife photographer and author, Paul Bannick, to Festival of Owls 2025, where he will be giving a special presentation about how owls spend their year raising families and catching prey.
Copies of Mr. Bannick's book, Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls, will be available for purchase before and after the presentation!
Don't Miss the Debut of TWO New Owl Ambassadors at Festival of Owls!
Meet Saw-Whet Owl, Aurora
Aurora was brought to our center on November 3rd of last year after having been found with an injury when captured during a Project Owl Net banding night at Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary. Audubon society volunteers noted irregularities in Aurora's eye, and a lower-than-expected weight. She was brought to Humane Indiana Wildlife for care where staff determined she likely had encountered blunt force trauma shortly before being caught that had
permanently rendered her blind in one eye. As a hatch year bird, on her first migration, her chances of survival were very slim. She was deemed non-releasable as a result and has been working with our staff ever since. We can't wait to show off Aurora at Festival of Owls, and hope you'll be there to meet her!
Meet our Short-Eared Owl
In January, we saw the admission of a state endangered Short-Eared Owl. The bird, who was hit by a vehicle in DeMotte, had a fractured humerus on its left wing. This little one was unfortunately unable to be released back into the wild, but we are honored to give this owl a permanent placement at HIW, where it will serve as an ambassador to its species!
Short-eared Owls hunt during daylight, flying low over short vegetation. They flap with stiff beats of their rounded wings, giving their flight a buoyant, mothlike quality. They eat mostly small mammals, especially mice and voles. These owls also eat shrews, moles, lemmings, rabbits, pocket gophers, bats, rats, weasels, and muskrats.
In Indiana, Short-eared Owls are on the endangered species list. During winter months, locally, they can be found in grassland areas such as Reynolds Creek Game Bird Habitat or Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve. For anyone wanting to see this species in its natural habitat, we encourage you to be respectful of the owls' space and to view them in a way that does not interfere with their natural behaviors.
Purchase Festival of Owls Tickets!
Ticket prices for Festival of Owls are as follows:
Ages 13+ : $15/each
Ages 4 - 12 : $10/each
Ages 3 & Under : FREE
Tickets
Schedule of Events!
8:15am - Doors Open
9 - 9:45am - Humane Indiana Wildlife LIVE Owl Presentation
- Featured Owls: Great Horned, Barred, Eastern Screech
10 - 10:45am - Brad Bumgardner, of Indiana Audubon Society - ‘Hootin’ Up IN Owls’
- Learn owl calls and participate in a calling contest for prizes!
10:15 - 10:30am - Carrie Steinweg, author, book reading, Into The Night in Kids Activity Area
- Books available for purchase before and after the reading!
11am - 12pm - Humane Indiana Wildlife LIVE Owl Presentation
- Featured Owls: Barn, Short-Eared, Saw-Whet
12:30 - 1:15pm - Paul Bannick, author and photographer, Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls
- Learn how owls spend their year raising families and catching prey
- Books available for purchase before and after the presentation!
1:30 - 2:15pm - Humane Indiana Wildlife - Owl Power: Adaptions of Owls
- Learn what makes owls such unique and skilled hunters
2:30 - 3:30pm - Humane Indiana Wildlife LIVE Owl Presentation
- Featured Owls: Saw-Whet, Eastern Screech, Barn
All Day Activities: 8:30am - 3:30pm
- Kids Activities
- Food Trucks
- Vendor Marketplace
- Various wildlife ambassador animals will be available for up-close viewing at every hour for 30 minutes. Animal stations will be located in the 4H and East Room 2.
Two Red Foxes Admitted to Rehabilitation Center after Vehicle Strikes
Within the last two weeks, two red foxes have been admitted to the rehab center due to injuries sustained from vehicle strikes. The first fox, a young male, was brought in from Merrillville, when a good Samaritan named Amy assisted him on the side of the road, secured him in her car, and brought him to us for treatment. After being hit by two vehicles, this fox is miraculously doing very well and is up and moving around his hospital cage. As soon as the wounds on his face heal and more blood reabsorbs in his eye, he will be moved outside to a pre-release enclosure.
The second fox was admitted to the rehabilitation center after being found in LaPorte. Thankfully, he was rescued and brought to the center before he could be more seriously injured. This Red Fox was admitted with a more serious concussion than the first fox, and is showing signs of ataxia, meaning he is having trouble with his muscle coordination, balance, and ability to follow with his eyes. Staff are also seeing a pretty obvious head tilt due to the trauma. With anti-inflammatory and pain medication, we hope to see these symptoms alleviate with time.
Now that summer babies have been released and fall injury patients are moving through the rehabilitation center, our staff is working diligently to re-set enclosures for their next round of occupants. This means we are re-laying gravel and mulch and moving in new housing for the next round of patients!
You can make an IMMEDIATE difference in the lives of our patients through donations made using the link below or via our Amazon Wishlist. Items such as gift cards to Tractor Supply, places for patients to hide, and even pooper scoopers help ensure our patients have a better stay while at our facility.
Your Support Makes a Difference - Give Today!
Injured Osprey Receives Care at Rehabilitation Center
In September, the rehabilitation center admitted a male Osprey that was found alongside the road in Griffith. Upon admission staff noticed blood around his beak and in his mouth. We also noted that the sheath to one of his talons was missing, leaving the exposed quick. An inability to maintain good balance and squinted eyes also suggest that he had sustained some sort of blunt force trauma. Based on where he was found, his injuries could have been from a vehicular strike. He was put on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications to help ease his symptoms, as well as fluids to counter his dehydration. Soon thereafter, he was much more bright-eyed and maintaining balance. We are hopeful that we will continue to see good progress in his condition and hope for an eventual release.
Adept at soaring and diving but not as maneuverable as other hawks, Ospreys keep to open areas, flying with stiff wingbeats in a steady, rowing motion. They usually roost alone or in small winter flocks of six to ten. Nesting Ospreys defend only the immediate area around their nest rather than a larger territory; they vigorously chase other Ospreys that encroach on their nesting areas.
The Osprey is the only hawk on the continent that eats almost exclusively live fish. In North America, more than 80 species of live fresh and saltwater fish account for 99 percent of the Osprey’s diet. Captured fish usually measure about 6–13 inches in length and weigh one-third to two-thirds of a pound.
Ambassador Animal Artwork Fundraiser
Through the end of the month, you can enter into a drawing for an original piece of artwork by one of our ambassadors! Original artwork is available by the following ambassadors:
Freddie - Turkey Vulture
Oscar - Striped Skunk
Flapjack - Virginia Opossum
South Shore Sally - Groundhog
Karen - Wood Duck
You are able to submit multiple tickets at a time for each ambassador by selecting the number of tickets you'd like and adding it to your cart; you will then be prompted to choose which ambassador you'd like your tickets to go towards! If you'd like to submit for more than one painting, go back and choose more tickets and add your second ambassador choice! It's that easy!
Staff will then put your tickets into each ambassador's Halloween bucket and on Halloween we will do a LIVE Facebook drawing at 12:00pm central to announce the winners!! Canvases CAN be shipped at winner's request. No need to be local, or even in Indiana!
Participate in the Fundraiser Now!