A great horned owl named Chitters and the Ogden Nature Center are both celebrating their 25th birthdays this weekend. The public is invited to celebrate both birthdays Saturday with music, refreshments and kids crafts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the center, 966 W. 12th Street in Ogden. The free party, is part of a fund-raising campaign for a new education center.
From rocky beginnings, Chitters and the center grew up together. When Chitters was still a chick, children removed him from his nest. Workers at the Division of Wildlife Resources tried, unsuccessfully, to teach him to hunt. In 1980, he was given to the Ogden Nature Center and became the center's mascot.
In 1975, the center was a weed-tangled vacant lot. Long before "open space" became a politically correct term, community volunteers began planting more than 10,000 trees and shrubs and created ponds and wetlands, according to Linda Babcock, a nature center spokesman. Today, it's a 127-acre wildlife sanctuary that conducts classes for the community and field trips for more than 15,000 school children annually.