Last month, the World Bird Sanctuary released eight Barn Owls into the wild that had hatched in our propagation building.
One of the young Barn Owls surveying his new home.
Seven of the owls hatched this Spring in two clutches, the eighth hatched a year before. When the owls were very young, their parents, Athena and Wentworth, worked very hard to keep them warm and well fed. We did not want the young Barn Owls to become accustomed to humans, so we avoided entering their mew as much as possible. Instead, I had the privilege of observing the owls’ activities on the closed circuit camera that hung over their nest box, also known as “Owl TV”.
The Common Barn Owl, Tyto alba, lives on every continent in the world, except for Antarctica. However, Barn Owls have become fairly rare in many parts of Missouri due to habitat destruction and poisoning. Barn Owls forage for small rodents as they silently fly over open meadows, certain crops and the edges of woods. They have the best sense of hearing in the animal kingdom, and they rely on this to locate prey. Barn Owls tend to avoid heavily wooded areas because they sometimes become prey for the Great Horned Owls that often occupy those types of habitats. Barn Owls make their nests in hollow trees, but they often use man made structures such as barns, grain silos and specially built nest boxes.
When the owls became old enough to survive on their own, Jeff Meshach, Assistant Director of the World Bird Sanctuary, and I loaded them into crates and drove them to Fredericktown, Missouri. We arrived on the property of Jim and Jean Priday, whose property provides ideal Barn Owl habitat. He had an old red barn, built in the early part of the last century, that we could use to help the owls transition into the wild. We released the Barn Owls into the barn, but Jim sealed the windows with welded wire, so they could not leave quite yet. Every morning, for five days, Jim put the mice we provided for him on the floor of the barn. The Barn Owls learned that they could obtain food in the barn. However, they did not think of the barn as a great place to stay because they always saw humans around. After five days, Jeff removed the welded wire that sealed the windows of the barn. One by one, the owls left the barn. Jim continued to place food in the barn for several more days. In case any of the owls had trouble finding their own food in the wild, they could come back to the barn and get a meal.
Hopefully, all eight Barn Owls have found success in their new habitats and will make a positive impact on the population of Barn Owls in Missouri.
Plans for building your own Barn Owl nest box can be found at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Guide on Building a Nest Box.
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