Humane Indiana Wildlife's Festival of Owls

03/06/2022

Like all birds of prey, an owl’s eyes face the front. This allows them to have a much greater range of binocular vision than animals with eyes situated on the sides of their heads. An owl’s field of view, for instance, is about 110°, and about 64% of that is binocular. A sparrow, on the other hand, has a much larger field of view, up to 300°, but their binocular vision is much more limited, sometimes only 10%.

Owls have terrific binocular vision compared to other birds. Binocular vision describes the ability of animals with two eyes to see an object with both eyes at the same time, giving an animal increased depth perception. There is one drawback to their large eyes. Owls are very farsighted. They can’t focus on objects that are too close. Instead, sensitive whisker-like bristles around their beaks help owls detect objects at close range.

Because owls can’t roll their eyes around the way we do, they have to move their entire head to get a good look around. They frequently twist their head and “bob and weave” to expand their field of view. Owls can turn their necks about 270° in either direction, and 90° up-and-down, without moving their shoulders!

12/02/2021

During the winter of 2017-2018 Humane Indiana Wildlife admitted 6 Snowy Owls to our facility that had been injured here in NW Indiana, during their migration. These individuals had been hit by vehicles, found grounded, were emaciated and dehydrated. Of those, 4 succumbed to their injuries, one was able to become an education ambassador due to his non-releasable injuries, and the last was released back to the wild!

Those owls migrated during an irruption year, which generally occurs every 4 years. During that migration year over 180 Snowy Owls were documented in the state of Indiana. While Snowy Owls do migrate into our state each year, the number is generally much smaller. It is during these irruption years that we expect to see dozens of these beautiful birds descend into our region of the state. This is an irruption year, or is supposed to be.

Already community members are seeing Snowy Owls in our area at locations throughout Porter and LaPorte County. It is important to remember that, while these animals are a rare sight and are absolutely breathtaking to view, they need their space. The presence of an on-looker should never impact the behavior of an animal. It should never prevent them from hunting, spook them from a roosting location, or cause them stress. Our responsibility is to keep these animals safe and in viewing from a respectful distance, we work together to do so.

Should an injured Snowy Owl, or any other animal, be discovered we are here to provide medical care and treatment. Please remember to view these animals with the respect they deserve. No photograph is worth potential harm or added stress to an animal. To support our efforts to care for injured and orphaned wildlife, and to provide life-long care for our education ambassadors, please consider donating to the link below. Remember, designate WILDLIFE! https://humaneindiana.org/season-of-giving

11/18/2021

11/13/2021

This years Festival of Owls event on October 23rd was a HUGE success! We are grateful to the 530+ people in attendance as well as the guest vendors and speakers that made the day so fun and educational! We hope that everyone is looking forward to NEXT YEARS event which will be held on OCTOBER 22, 2022 at the Porter County Expo Center. We are already working to improve upon and expand on this years incredible event.

Whooooo can we look forward to seeing at next years event? Meet Dougal and Arya, HIW's newest educational ambassadors! They are currently undergoing training to be able to accompany staff out to education programs in the near future! You can look forward to seeing them, as well as other live owls, at next years FOO!

Follow this page for more information about next years event, stories about owl patients throughout the year, and an insider scoop on the happenings of our owl ambassadors at HIW!