In an abandoned barn on one of the Conservancy’s preserves, I am usually scared out of my wits when this barn owl flies passed me and heads for a gap in the door. Over the weekend, I went into the barn to inspect for any storm damage and the barn owl just watched me. Maybe it had an eye on some rodent in the old hay bales rotting away on the floor, and didn’t want to abandon its perch. Either way, it enabled me to get a good photo of it. The way I see it, the barn owls on the preserve do what they can to avoid the great horned owl that rules the area. Already this year, I have seen two barn owl remains on the ground, and they’d been worked over pretty good. And I have watched the great horned owls roust the barn owls out of the barn several times. This is a tough life being lower on the food chain…
They’re back!
We are so pleased to see one of the NBHCP’s “Covered Species,” the Burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), back on Conservancy property! Going back 15 years, the owl used to be seen frequently on Conservancy mitigation lands. At the time, we documented too-common depredation of them by dogs from nearby residential… Continue Reading They’re back!