I read that the Barn Owls are so named because they moved from wild, originally purely woodland habitats to traditional English grain stores otherwise barns. the farmers conveniently left openings at the top of the barns so that Barn Owls would land before using the opening to get into the barn. Inside the barn, biological control went on with the owl feeding on destructive grain-eating mice and rats. I bet this form of control by far superceded the use of rodenticides which in many cases have just ended up killing the rodents’ predators-raptors including owls- up the chain Man and owl therefore had a cordial relationship otherwise precisely refered to as mutualism. This is beautiful especially because in many parts of the world especially Africa, owls are ominous and will be killed on sight.Those were better days!
The Spotted Eagle Owl, named an ‘eagle’ because of the gigantic size is one of the widespread and frequent owls but is now threathened with rodenticide poisoning. In South Africa, a decline from ringing 20 individuals to none or 1 is not a good sign at all as far as Owl survival is concerned. Yet this is due to rodent poisoning during which when the poisoned rodents are eaten by the owls, the owls die from secondary poisoning.
Below is a Spotted Eagle photographed in remote semi arid Rift Valley Province. I travelled from Nairobi to go see this resident owl, a 4-hour drive away. Not a very common subject.
Donations made here are
Feb 3rd Elizabeth H USD 20.00
5 Comments
Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen a barn owl in a long time and I’ve been in a few barns over the years. The Spotted Eagle owl is quite beautiful and so nice that he/she posed for you after your long drive.
I’ve never thought of owls as ominous, perhaps because my stepmother had a fondness for them and collected owl figurines. There’s an owl stamped in bronze on her gravestone.
s.
Hi Sheryl, I think Barn Owls no longer have good access to the inside of barns I would bet, now that the contemporary farmers(at least in Kenya) seem to construct their barns ‘all sealed’, correct me if I am wrong of the farmers in your native area. In Kenya, they will be seen entering the ceilings of modern residential houses. In my Campus, there were many of these in our dormitories ceilings. They would emerge when campus activity went down, about 2300hrs and would fill the night with their ‘screeching’ sound. I marveled at them and really wanted to study their nesting ecology on the campusfor my undergraduate project. Eventually I could not, first because it would be quite demanding, requiring me to work at wee hours in the night following whole daytime class work. For another reason, a number of the owls were in the girls’ section. I thought prowling that section with night-vision binoculars would give the girls a wrong notion that i was after their view while they changed into their sleeping suits!
Anyway, a good thing your step mom loved owls and has an ingrain of an owl on her tombstone. I would have the Black (Verreaux’s)Eagle’s which is my best, though one subject attacked me while I tried flying her. This was actually Simon Thomsett’s-Vero is her name. A Pity she was moved to a farm unfamiliar to me.
Hi there, I am searching for information regarding the range of spooted eagle owl. We were fortunate enough to witness the nesting of a pair, and “assisted” in the rearing of three chicks. One was bullied out, we hand reared for a fortnight and returned sucessfully to the nest. Susequently one has died as a rfesult of power lines ( transformer box) and a 2nd is badly injured, but recupertaing now in our courtyard
My main concern is that untill recently the adults and remaing jeuvenile were active present and audible until two weeks ago . We have not seen or heard them since. I fear the worst- poison, however I do remain hopeful the the adults are in the process of “re-locating” the remaining jeuvenlie. Could this be possible i.e. the Adults have moved to the outskirts of their territory to find the jeuvenile his own territory??
ANY help much appreciated.
The Craggs
Please can you advise me on how to get rid of rats in our ceiling without using poisons that may kill owls etc. What should I be asking for when speaking to pest control companies regarding the problem.
STOP KILLING THE PLANETS ANIMALS. OUR ANIMALS.