Two weeks ago, I wrote about erecting nest boxes to attract barn owls to help control damage caused by pocket gophers and other rodents, but said little about barn owls themselves. As “landlords’ it seems we should know a little about our tenants too.
It’s hard to convince people there are lots of bobcats in Kansas because they are rarely seen, and so it is with barn owls. Barn owls are very secretive and like nesting / roosting sites that are well hidden, so it’s tough to think there are many around. Actually barn owls are the most widely distributed of all owls, and one of the most widely distributed birds overall; they are found on every continent but Antarctica.
Barn owls are thought to be the origin of many ghost myths, as their vocalization resembles a scream and they appear “ghost-like” in a dark building. Adult barn owls in the USA are from 12 to 15 inches tall with a wingspan of over 40 inches (a contact in the UK tells me their barn owls are about have that size.) They have large, broad wings with soft feathers that allow for silent flight. Their necks are flexible enough to let their heads turn more than 180 degrees in each direction.
A very distinctive face with cupped facial discs funnels sounds out to their ears, giving them possibly the best hearing of all common owls. One talon on each foot actually has tiny serrations on one edge like a comb and is thought to help with grooming those facial discs.
Barn owls usually form monogamous pairs and as long as habitat and food availability remain, that pair will nest in the same site for years. They are “cavity nesters,” along with Kestrels and Screech Owls, so they can be attracted to nest boxes, and they adapt very readily to human activity as long as their nesting/roosting site is concealed. Clutches of eggs average from 4 to 7, but can be more if prey species are abundant. Studies show that the amount of prey available actually dictates the number of eggs laid and the number of chicks fledged, even to the point where 2 broods of chicks might be raised in a single year if prey is very plentiful. Barn owl eggs are “asynchronous,” meaning incubation begins as each egg is laid, so there will always be older and younger chicks in each brood.
Not to be over-simplistic, but the first key to attracting barn owls to a nest box is an abundance of prey. A friend just recently told me that when he had hogs, there were barn owls in every crack and crevice available in his silo and buildings, because where there are hogs, there are usually an abundance of rodents. Barn owls like open farm country and pastureland. The absolute best hunting habitat for them are areas of rough grass that only occasionally or never gets cut or grazed.
These areas of rough grass contain a deep “liter layer” on the ground made up of dead grasses from previous years that encourage rodents to build nests and tunnels. Nesting boxes on poles and in the ends of buildings should face or at least be near open farm and pasture land for them to hunt. Since barn owls are so secretive most of the year, sometimes you will only know you have them by seeing “pellets” on the ground near the nest. All owls regurgitate pellets composed of bone, fur and all other undigested material. Fresh owl pellets near a nest box or cavity is a sure sign of a renter within.
Barn owl populations are threatened when pesticides are used to kill rodents, when dead trees are cut down and old farm buildings are removed and when grasslands are turned into farm ground. In light of those challenges, manmade nesting boxes placed inside existing farm buildings or on poles along field edges are beneficial to attracting God’s “critter-gitters” to you property. So if gophers and other rodents are giving you fits, why not look into erecting an owl nest box or two. Contact me and I’ll point you in the right direction or contact Mark Browning with the Barn Owl Box Company, www.barnowlbox.com. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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