Richard and Diane Van Vleck Personal Pages The Home Habitat |
Barn owls have nested in our yard almost every year. Their traditional site was a chimney flue, but we have, at various times, lured them to other sites, including a nestbox in an attic window. Last year (1998), we finally were successful in attracting them to a nesting platform in the silo. The nesting was successful although only three eggs were laid, However, the fledglings weren't able to fly the width of the silo from the platform over the ladder to the opening, and ended up on the floor of the empty silo. The parents continued to feed them and they were thriving when I discovered them, but were still unable to fly straight up the silo to escape. They had probably been on the silo floor 3-5 days when I found them. My presence was enough to scare two of them to make it all the way to the top after several tries. The third one could only make it about half way up and had to be released through the work shop. All three returned to the silo the next night to be feed by the parents. The small one once again ended up on the floor, unable to ascend to the silo top and was removed through the shop. From then on, they all either managed to not fall down the silo or were able to escape. They continued returning to the silo each night for a couple weeks.
Older barn owl nestlings at bottom of 40' silo |
Barn owl at top of silo waiting for darkness |
Barn owl pair in hayloft |
Barn owl leaving attic nest box |
Older nestlings at entrance to attic nest box | Barn owl at attic nest box entrance |
Barn owl taking mouse from aquarium feeder |
Barn owl attacking lawn ornament?? |
Dissected barn owl pellets |
Barn owl entering chimney nest site with meadow vole.
Remember Kodak Royal X Pan?
barn owl | American kestrel | purple martin | barn swallow | Eastern bluebird |
tufted titmouse | Eastern phoebe | yellow shafted flicker | tree swallow | chimney swift |
house wren | big brown bat | Carolina wren | brown thrasher | catbird |
cedar waxwing | Northern mockingbird | |||
Yellow warbler | Acadian flycatcher |
email richard@americanartifacts.com
COPY; 2001, American Artifacts and Richard Van Vleck, Taneytown, Maryland.