Irvine Nature Center — Attraction in Owings Mills

I can only write a review based upon my experience for my son's 3rd birthday party which frankly, should make you reconsider hosting any event here in general.  I booked a party at the Irvine Nature Center on July 26, 2024 to take place on 11/9/24 and made a deposit for my spot.  There was clear communication right up to the day before the event. The information sent to me a few days before the party said that I should come to the nature center 15-20 minutes before my party time to set up so everything could get going.  Well I showed up 30 minutes before the party and no one was there.  Everything was locked and not a light on. I thought no big deal I'm ten minutes early.  Then 10 minutes went by Still no one to be found.  I tried calling into the building and kept getting a voicemail.  20 minutes went by and still no one in sight.  Then at 9:55am when all the my guests for my son's birthday started showing up the people at Irvine also showed up too.  It was a mad scramble to get everything in order.  Apparently the girl who was supposed to be my party planner did a no show, leaving me high and dry.  So a bunch of volunteers and the event manager were all running around trying to help me set up and keep 20 small children entertained because of their mess up.  They managed to get everything in order but it was overwhelmingly stressful I couldn't even focus on what was supposed to be a great event.  Literally it set the tone for me for the entire party.  The kids had a great time, but I was so SO ANGRY.  The event manager kept apologizing to me and trying to explain what happened, but frankly, I just didnt want to hear it.  We had an email confirmation from the nature center from weeks ago when everything was to happen and they did not hold up their end of the deal.  She also tried to explain they had a wedding that day as well.  Ok I know my 3 year olds birthday party isn't as big of a money maker as that, but why is that wedding party's time more important than mine, when I have literally had this planned for months.  They are refunding me my money, but my opinion still stands that this is NOT a place to hold a birthday party.  It was a disaster and completely unacceptable.  We will not be returning to hold any events and not will we be returning to do any of the activities and stuff they have there.  Which is a total bummer because this place was nice and I thought they had their act together, but obviously they do not.   Miss Cecilia was great though.  She is a great educator for small kids and I appreciate her for her professionalism, care and kindness.  This place doesn't deserve her!   She should pursue another location to teach...

This review is about the nature trails at the Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills, MD. I can't comment on the indoor exhibits because I didn't go indoors.

They have a large tent with transparent plastic sides that can be used as a wedding venue.

There are trails through the woods. The trails are well maintained and covered with wood chip mulch. We were told by our guide that the wood chips come from their own trees. Twice a year, their arborist goes through the forest with his crew. They identify the trees and large branches that are likely to fall into the trails and take them down before they fall down. They put those through a wood chipper, and they spread those chips onto the trails.

They also have a bird motel where they care for injured birds until they're capable of being released back into the woods. If a bird's injuries are too severe for effective rehabilitation, they allow the bird to live out their life at the facility. We had the opportunity to see the birds that are being cared for on a permanent basis. Those birds are in the pictures below.

Our tour guide was Brian, the bird man of the Irvine Nature Center.

I highly recommend the Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills, MD.

Just so you know, the vulture who is picking at Brian's shoelace wasn't actually injured. That bird is there because a person took him in when they found him as a baby bird that fell out of his nest. The person thought he was a raven and decided to keep him because the guy was a Ravens football fan. Then the baby bird grew up. This story is the opposite of the story of the ugly duckling. This bird was cute when it was a baby but not as cute as an adult vulture. And it was pooping all over the guy's garage.

So he donated the bird to the nature center. Now, the vulture thinks he's a human being, and he'll never be able to learn how to survive on his own. The lesson Brian was giving us is that when a bird falls out of its nest, people should leave it alone. The parent birds will continue to feed it until it can fly, and then they'll teach it how to survive in the...

We recently got married at Irvine Nature Center because we loved the atmosphere and views it offered. We were able to get many beautiful photos during our wedding. The wedding point is gorgeous for our ceremony. The downside to Irvine Nature Center is that in order to book the venue you must do so through their exclusive caterer, Rouge. Everything for the wedding goes through them. For this reason I would not recommend Irvine Nature Center. Rouge is extremely unprofessional and honestly a disgrace to the wedding business. Less than 3 months before our wedding Rouge cancelled our catering contract and we were forced to find a new caterer/bartenders. BUT even after they cancelled they were still involved in our wedding because you must book Irvine through them. When Rouge was our caterer they answered emails about Irvine promptly, but the second they were no longer our caterer (through no fault of our own) they stopped answering emails. None of my vendors were able to get ahold of our contact person from Rouge and Rouge refused to give us contact info for someone from Irvine. While Irvine is a beautiful venue for a wedding they are not worth the hassle of dealing with Rouge catering. I would recommend they rethink having Rouge as their exclusive caterer, I know several other venues that used Rouge exclusively have dropped their...