Got mice? Or gophers, voles or field rats? If so, seven barn
owls that are almost ready to fly may be able to help.
Got mice? Or gophers, voles or field rats? If so, seven barn owls that are almost ready to fly may be able to help.
Nature’s supreme flying mousetrap, a barn owl, weighs only about one pound and can catch more than 1,500 small rodents a year, silently hunting around human habitats and large fields.
The Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center is looking for people or businesses that would appreciate a natural, and free, method of pest control on their property. If you’re interested, send us an e-mail and if your site is practical, we will release a beautiful owl at dusk as you watch. It’s a uniquely exciting and inspiring experience.
Six of the owlets arrived at WERC as scrawny, screaming, beady-eyed babies, with faces only a mother – and wildlife rehabilitator – could love. They make a heart-stopping sound like a steam whistle. One of the nestlings had just been born and still had its egg-tooth. The seventh owl that arrived was an adult that needed to recover from a wing injury.
Two of the owlets fell from their nests in palm trees. These trees appear to be a favorite of the species. WERC has received barn owl babies in past years that had fallen from swaying palms. Barn owls also build nests in human-made owl boxes, in tree cavities, in buildings (including barns), on cliffs and even in stacked bales of hay, which may account for the nestling that was found on the ground in a horse arena.
At WERC, volunteers were kept busy hand feeding cut up rodents to the nestlings and fledglings several times a day, until the owlets were able to eat on their own. During their stay at WERC (averaging three months), the seven owls will eat approximately 850 mice!
Once the owls were ready, they were then moved into an outdoor aviary to learn to fly. They are strictly nighttime (nocturnal) hunters, and their flight is silent. They couldn’t be heard even with all seven flying like moths above the volunteers’ heads. Once the owls settle down on their perches, they often exhibit “toe-dusting” and wing-spreading behavior at the caretakers – behavior that makes them appear bigger than they are, warning interlopers to stay away.
After several months in the aviary, the barn owls have grown full plumage – beautiful, soft, creamy feathers, and have perfected their flight and are now ready to prove themselves capable of hunting rodents – perhaps in your own field?
