Festival of Hawks: Bird-Lover’s Bounty
Tuesday September 14th, 2010, 12:56pm
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This past weekend, scores of fans visited the Holiday Beach Migration Observatory to watch songbirds and hawks make their way south for the winter. This Saturday and Sunday mark the main weekend of the annual Festival of Hawks, where the fun will continue with activities for bird-lovers of all ages.
HBMO experts will be on hand to give hawk banding demonstrations, where guests will have the chance to safely handle these magnificent birds of prey. A live raptor show will take place at 9:30am, 12 noon and 2:30pm each day, displaying the beauty and agility of some imprinted/tame hawks. And a hands-on outreach program called “Zoo To You” will educate and entertain guests with talks about some of the “incredible animals with which we share our planet”.
The fun continues on Sunday, with regular HBMO-guided watching tours, banding demos and raptor displays. A dragonfly workshop is scheduled for Sunday, too, with Ojibway Park naturalists catching and discussing the winged creatures. Point Pelee is also taking part in the Festival of Hawks, with daily guided birding tours.
Grab your binoculars and take a nice drive through the county! This weekend marks the festival, but the birds will be flying overhead until early December. Admission into Holiday Beach Conservation Area is just $10 a carload- a great way to expose the kids to some local wildlife and see the county in all its autumnal glory.