Birds of Prey Festival
Schedule
Sat Sep 14 2024 at 09:00 am to 01:00 pm
Location
Lone Pine State Park | Kalispell, MT
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15th Birds of Prey Festival!Hawks, owls, eagles, and falcons – up close and personal! From 9am to 1pm on Saturday, September 14th, Flathead Audubon and Lone Pine State Park are putting on this free, big event with activities for everyone including great programs, live raptors, exhibits, and prizes!
At 10 am, Flathead Audubon will present a new video on the 17 years of the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch program started by our very own Dan Casey, using footage from BJ Worth of Wings in Nature (also legendary skydiving professional and perennial primary observer at the hawk watch site). Dan will also lead a field trip the following week to the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch viewing site near the top of Mt. Aeneas (limited to 10 participants willing to hike 2 hours uphill!)
At 11am, Lauren Tate, biologist with the Owl Research Institute will give us preliminary results from a five-year winter raptor survey in the Mission Valley – a great look into the migration habits of raptors from the far north. She will also update us on the results of the winter Short-eared Owl surveys and the nocturnal Northern Saw-whet Owl banding project at UM Yellow Bay Biological Field Station. Jeanna Clifford will open up with an overview of the total ORI program.
For our keynote presentation at noon, Lisa Bate, Glacier National Park Biologist, will give us an intimate peek into the lives of a Golden Eagle pair raising a new eaglet from egg to fledgling. This was filmed at eye level on a cliff-side nest by BJ Worth which made for an interesting daily approach by the film team!
Beth Watne and Montana Wild Wings Recovery Center volunteers will be outdoors with many Ambassador Birds, possibly including a Bald Eagle, Ferruginous Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk (and Harlan’s subspecies), Cooper’s Hawk, Great Gray Owl, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, and American Kestrel!
Flathead Audubon will have 27 full-sized, colored and laminated, raptor silhouettes to practice your raptor identification skills. You can take a quiz and even win some prizes!
Fancy Face Design face-painting will be there from 9-11am to turn you and your kids into raptors for the day. Head over to the gazebo with the kids to make an adorable Snowy Owl to take home. Hockaday Museum, Flathead Land Trust, Center for Native Plants (with door prizes), Owl Research Institute, US Forest Service, River 2 Lake Initiative, and many other organizations will be there with booths and fun activities.
Wanna go on a hike? Show up at 8am for a guided hike with Darcy Thomas. At 9am, Bridger Donaldson will lead a guided birding hike for kids. Michell de Leon Tyler will lead the final guided hike at 10am. Binoculars will be provided.
The Birds of Prey Festival is a continuation of a tradition started by the family of the late Rod Ash in 2006. Over 850 people participated at the last Festival. Bring the whole family to immerse yourself into the world of raptors!
NOTE: Parking is severely limited at the Lone Pine Visitor Center, so a short walk from the parking along the entrance road may be necessary. No food or drinks will be provided, but a cold water refill station is available, so bring your reusable water bottles!
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Where is it happening?
Lone Pine State Park, 290 Lone Pine Rd, Kalispell, MT 59901, United States,Kalispell, MontanaEvent Location & Nearby Stays: