The first hooded mergansers have appeared on the small
opened-up portions of Kangaroo Lake within the past few days.
They rank very high on our list of favorite waterfowl. In fact
some bird carvers think they are among the most beautiful birds
of North America. I have been asked by plenty of people a
difficult-to-answer question, "Which United States bird do
you think is the most beautiful of all?" Frankly, I don’t
have a good answer simply because I like so many of them.
Charlotte and I did see a bird last fall whose incredible
beauty greatly impressed us, a barn owl. It was one of several
raptors, permanently unable to fly because of injuries, that was
being used by the Milwaukee Schlitz Audubon Center for
educational purposes. We were given a tour or their new raptor
facility and had exciting looks at a screech owl, red-tailed
hawk, American kestrel, barred owl, bald eagle and barn owl.
There is little wonder about the many common names for the
barn owl that have come into use including ghost owl,
monkey-faced owl, Queen of the night and sweetheart owl. This
very light-colored bird, particularly its white face and
under-wing surfaces, brought about its name of ghost owl, while
Queen of the night reflects its shimmering light beauty when in
flight. One look at its unusual face and you can clearly
understand why the titles of monkey-faced or sweetheart owl
originated.
The barn owl is included on the Wisconsin Endangered Species
list even though throughout recent history it has been recorded
from 23 counties in the state. Winters are too severe for its
year-round survival here.
Our first experience with barn owls occurred during the
mid-1970’s when we were guests of Harold and Verna Wilson, who at
the time were spending the winter in a friend’s home located
along the edge of a citrus grove near Vero Beach, Florida. A
pecan tree grew outside our bedroom window and, to our stunning
surprise, a family of young barn owls perched in that tree and
screamed for food during much of the night. The sound could be
described as a shrill, eerie, fearsome, hissing, discordant,
shattering scream. Can you imagine how much sleep we got?
Harold had a grin on his face like a Cheshire cat the next
morning at breakfast. He secretly knew full well, before we went
to bed, what a learning experience we were in for!
The young birds would be quiet for a while and then, on cue,
suddenly begin clamoring and screaming for the next rodent being
brought to them by one of the parents. Apparently a subtle sound
was made by the adult as it approached the nest, inaudible to us,
because it was always several seconds before the parent reached
the pecan tree that the feeding actually began.
What a great friend to agriculturists the barn owl is. Its
primary food consists of mice, rats and other small rodents. A
study was made of 200 pellets, consisting of undigested fur and
bones, coughed up by barn owls at a particular site in Washington
D.C. Inside of them were discovered the remaining skulls and jaw
bones of 225 meadow mice, 2 pine mice, 179 house mice, 20 rats, 6
jumping mice, 20 shrews, 1 star-nosed mole and 1 vesper
sparrow.
How skilled are they at hunting? One adult barn owl was
carefully observed over a period of several weeks as it arrived
at its nest of young. On one occasion, in slightly less than 30
minutes, it brought to its babies a total of 21 mammals
consisting of 1 squirrel, 3 gophers, 1 rat and 16 mice.
It has been determined that their best hunting is accomplished
on calm dry nights when their flight is the most silent and when
they can easily hear the scampering of their prey. The bird
invariably waits until its prey has stopped in its tracks before
making the kill.
One of the most fascinating experiments ever done with owls
involved an adult barn owl. This study took place in a large
room that had been totally darkened with the scientists using
infrared equipment to observe the owl’s movements. The owl sat
on a perch at one end of the room and, one by one, mice were
released at the other end of the room in total darkness onto the
floor, on which had been scattered dry leaves and other small dry
debris. The barn owl had 100% success with every mouse
released.
Next the researchers took a small wad of moistened cotton and
carefully plugged up one of the ear openings of the owl and
repeated the experiment. This time the barn owl missed its prey
by about 10 to 12 inches to one side. However, given several
more chances, with one of its ears still being plugged up, the
owl was able to compensate for its change of sound reception and,
thereafter, didn’t miss a single mouse.
The conclusion at the end of the study was that the barn owl
may have the most acute hearing of all owl species. It is also
capable of capturing its prey in total darkness if need be, and
its sight at night is largely used to avoid accidentally flying
into tree branches and other natural obstacles, not to capture
its prey.
Here is a stunningly beautiful, widespread creature that is
considered to be the most closely associated owl with humans in
the world. It is native to North and South America, Europe,
Africa, Arabia, southeast Asia, Australia and Tasmania but,
because of its tendency to use old abandoned buildings and other
remote sites for nesting, along with its stealthy nighttime
hunting, may also be one of the most seldom seen owls.
One of the most widespread and beautiful of all owls in the world is the barn owl.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 03/27/2004.
© Copyright 2004 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
