Owl Fest returns to Eagle Creek

Eagle Creek Park will host one of its most popular events this weekend.

The 7th annual Owl Festival takes place at the park’s Ornithology Center.

Assistant manager Donna Riner said visitors can see the raptors up close.

“We have eight raptors that live in our care because they either have a permanent injury or they're imprinted on humans, so we now have them as educational ambassadors for people to experience these animals up close and learn about their natural history and conservation,” Riner said.

Riner said park naturalists will also present several programs.

“We're going to have a possum program which sounds like oh how are possums and owls related but turns out they're both nocturnal animals so we're going to highlight possum’s, owls we're going to highlight our barn owl OB he's going to be flying inside of our flight cage.  We have a bat program that talks about Indiana bats,”  Riner said.

The Owl Fest silent auction returns with all proceeds benefiting the Eagle Creek Park Foundation’s Birds of Prey Fund, which supports the Ornithology Center’s Raptor Ambassador Program.

The Ornithology Center is located inside the park at 6515 Delong Road.   Event times are Saturday, Oct. 22 , 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 23, 1 to 5 p.m.

Owl Fest is free with park admission.