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From Sonoma Magazine

Barn owls are the sole vineyard workers to take no note of harvest season. From their perspective up in tree hollows, barn lofts and custom nest boxes mounted on poles, the rows of vines laden with ripe fruit are of little interest.

They’re focused instead on the ground below, where their work is done and their food — rodents — is found. A family of barn owls may eat more than 1,000 in a single season. That translates into a lot of critters that won’t be feasting on the tasty (so we hear) roots of grapevines.

Kelsey Reidinger of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue says that roughly half of the 40 or so new nest boxes installed annually through its 13-year-old Barn Owl Maintenance Program (BOMP), are placed in vineyards.

“Because gophers can cause such issues for winegrape growers, barn owls are attractive to vintners,” she says.

Members of the Wildlife Rescue’s Barn Owl Management Project introduced a foster owl, second from right, into an established family on a vineyard property in Sonoma County. The owls reduce rodent populations, bringing up to 25 gophers back to the nesting box each night. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat) The other half of the group’s owl boxes go into other types of agricultural fields. Either way, the real winner is the region’s overall ecological balance. Barn owls are natural predators of gophers, and our open landscapes are their natural habitat. That’s why they’re called barn owls, after all: They tend to find shelter there, surrounded by farmland.

Barns and fields mimic the tree cavities in grasslands and savannas to which they’re adapted. (Great horned owls, also common countywide, prefer more wooded areas.) Resident owls also forestall the need for rodent poisons, which can be counterproductive by also killing predators.

Though barn owls don’t give a hoot about harvest, late summer and early fall are important for other reasons. This is when juvenile owls, at their own ripe old age of two months, fledge from the nest. And it’s when vacant owl boxes must be thoroughly cleaned, another service that Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue provides.

“After they’re born, these owls are doing all of their business inside of the box, and they do no housekeeping,” Reidinger explains. “Over the 60 days that they’re in the box, it leads to inches of material.”

After all, a clean owl box is a healthy owl box, and a healthy barn owl is worth more than its weight in fine wine.

From Cape Wildlife Center

"What, were you raised in a barn?!"

"Yes" barn owls probably.

Pardon the pun, but we are in shock over here. This is the second nest of baby barn owls we have found in the last several weeks! This species is rarely seen in Massachusetts and has not been documented nesting in our area for several decades, yet we have rescued injured chicks from two separate nests just a few miles apart.

Yesterday we were called out to a local buisness in Falmouth after a chick was spotted on the ground in a busy work area. The chick had fallen 30ish feet and landed on cement and broke one of his legs quite badly in the fall. We rushed him back to our hospital for medical treatment, and he is currently recuperating in our care.

Today, we received a call that a second chick was spotted on the ground at the same location. We arrived on scene and were greeted by some pretty awesome employees who were helping to keep the owl safe until help arrived. We gave him a field-exam and determined that this chick had miraculously survived the fall without injury. He also was quite chubby, which indicated that mom and dad must still be in the picture and actively feeding him. We decided that getting him back up to the nest and setting a camera up to make sure the parents returned was the best option.

The problem was we didn't have a ladder tall enough. Well, the employees came through again, and rigged up a custom owl elevator. With their help we reached the nest and were about to deposit the owlet back in his house when we noticed two more apple-shaped faces staring back at us. And screaming. A lot. We returned the fallen owlet to his siblings and after a quick screaming match all was forgiven. The three huddled together and receded back into the eves to safety.

Next, we had to rig up something to keep the trio safe the event any of them decided to jump-ship again. The crew there had just the thing! They returned with a gia pile of wood shavings and spread it beneath the nest creating a soft landing pad for any would-be daredevils.

Last thing on the list was to set up a camera to ensure mom or dad returned tO care for them. After some technical difficulties and a quick trip to Walmart to purchase a working trail cam we returned to finish the job. We handed the camera over to one of the employees to mount on a nearby beam to get a good angle when He was almost struck in the head by one of the parents! They had returned while we stepped out and did not take kindly to the intrusion. Seeing that they were In good hands, we backed-off and headed home. The employees will keep an eye on the nest while mom and dad finish raising them. In the meantime we will do our best to get the fourth sibling healthy and return him to his family.

Seeing that they were In good hands, we backed-off and headed home. The employees will keep an eye on the nest while mom and dad finish raising them. In the meantime we will do our best to get the fourth sibling healthy and return him to his family.

A huge thank you to the employees and owners of the business for looking out for these owls! (We are not naming them publicly to protect the birds)

From Antonius Lo

Eastern Screech Owl, Southern Ontario, Canada

From Adrian Barnard

Short-Eared Owl hunting as the sun goes down Redgrave and Lopham Fen

From Freedom First Wildlife Rehab

Another small, male barred owl arrived today from Brooklyn, CT with an old injury to his wing. This first year owl has been surviving around a water source by eating amphibians and other ground dwelling insects and any other small rodents he came across but as the weather has turned cooler , he has lost significant food sources. He has minimal low flight and is at high risk of predation and starvation. We will be carefully evaluating his potential for independence. Thank you for Sherry Hart from Nutmeg Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation for wading through the muck to rescue this owl! Additional thanks to Nicole Bennett for transporting the owl to us today! It truly takes a team to care for CT wildlife

From Kirsten Spencer

Photographing this guy was a hoot!

From Cynthia Rand

Two of my favorite things came together in one scene last night, a Screech Owl in the fall foliage!

From Tin Chan

Pair of Short Eared Owls in flight.

From John Crooks

Barn Owl returning with a meal.

Link to Youtube Trailer

Coming 15 Nov, a new animated short will be released staring and owl character based on the real life owl found in the 2020 Rockafeller Center tree that was rescued and released back into the wild.

About the real life Rocky (from People):

Rockefeller "Rocky" the Saw-whet owl was released near Saugerties, New York, after receiving a clean bill of health from his rescuers, avian veterinarians, and owl researchers.

The rehab center, located in Saugerties, New York, started caring for the bird on Nov. 16, after it was driven to the rescue by the wife of a man who helped transport Rockefeller Center's famous tree this year. The man found the owl tucked in the branches of the Norway spruce, which was cut down in Oneonta, New York, while setting up the towering tree in New York City.

"What I suspect was that it was in the tree when they cut it down and it probably got trapped when they wrapped the tree in some of the branches. It was there for I think what was a three-day journey to New York City and wasn’t found until they released the branches," Ellen Kalish, the director and founder of the wildlife center, told NBC New York about how she thinks Rockefeller – or Rocky for short – ended up in his festive predicament.

Rockefeller was released near the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center by Kalish. After sitting on the rescuer's outstretched hand for a few moments, the little bird flew off on his own, quickly finding a new tree to perch in.

About the upcoming short:

It is written by Alfonso Cuarón, who has directed such things as Prisoner of Azkaban, Gravity, Roma, and Children of Men.

Plot summary from imdb says:

Moon, a curious young owl, unexpectedly finds himself stuck in a Christmas tree destined for Rockefeller Plaza. In his attempts to escape the bustling city, Moon befriends a lost young girl named Luna, and together, they must find a way to reunite with their parents.

Last week's news about new protections for California's Burrow Owls was not totally positive news for everyone.

Sometimes there is conflict between doing one good thing (protecting plants/animals) and doing another (expanding renewable energy projects).

This opinion article discusses some of the overlap in area that is good for the owls that is also prime for handling California's energy goals.

From Nautura Hoy:

If you don’t love burrowing owls, you’ve probably never seen a burrowing owl.

They’re 7 to 10 inches tall, with bright yellow eyes and long, skinny legs. The western variety doesn’t even dig its own underground burrows. It depends on other critters, such as ground squirrels and desert tortoises.

Building solar projects in spots where burrowing owls are struggling to survive would be a terrible idea, right?

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: If only the world were so simple.

As my L.A. Times colleague Lila Seidman reports, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously last week to make the bird a candidate for protection under the state’s Endangered Species Act. In practice, that means burrowing owls will be protected under the law for the next 12 to 18 months, while state wildlife officials study whether the adorable bird deserves permanent status as a “threatened” or “endangered” species.

Two decades ago, there were as many as 10,500 breeding pairs of burrowing owls in the Golden State, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Now there are just 6,500 pairs, the department estimates.

Suburban sprawl was the biggest culprit, conservation groups say, with residential and commercial development tearing up owl habitat across the state and giving the funky little birds precious little space to nest and breed.

But other industries contributed to habitat fragmentation and destruction too — including renewable energy.

Not many wind farms are being built in California these days, at least on the shore; the windiest spots have long been taken. But lots of massive solar farms are being planned and built to replace planet-wrecking fossil fuels.

Conservation activists want state officials to impose new requirements on energy companies looking to build in burrowing owl habitat — requiring them to pay for the permanent protection of breeding grounds, for instance. Activists also hope state officials will block construction of solar projects in the best spots for burrowing owls.

“We can have abundant burrowing owls and abundant solar development,” said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I don’t think the [protections] will slow solar development.”

I hope he’s right. But I’m a little anxious.

It’s not just burrowing owl advocates who are concerned about the the consequences of solar sprawl. It’s desert tortoise advocates and Joshua tree advocates. It’s rural residents who don’t want solar in the backyards, and farmers who don’t want solar projects taking away cropland — even when they don’t have enough water for all their crops.

If only we could put all the solar panels we need to replace fossil fuels on rooftops, warehouses and parking lots, this problem would be easy to solve. Alas, even optimistic researchers say we wouldn’t come anywhere close.

There are also valuable opportunities to build solar in “low-harm” spots — abandoned farmlands, former mines, contaminated Superfund sites, oil and gas fields, landfills, even strips of land along highways. A report released this month by the Roosevelt Institute and the Climate and Community Institute estimated that the United States has nearly 226 million acres of such land — an order of magnitude more land than we’ll ever need for solar.

Again, if only the world were so simple.

Conservationists have been touting low-conflict solar sites for a long time; there have been optimistic reports like this one before. Yet so far, there have been only a handful of projects built in truly low-conflict spots, such as a set of solar panels over a canal that were switched on this month by Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community.

There are lots of reasons for the dearth of progress. In some cases, the low-harm spots aren’t near electric lines, which are needed to send power to customers; in others, developers aren’t willing to take on the financial liability of building on a toxic Superfund site. Some private landowners aren’t willing to sell — not currently a problem on federal lands, where the Biden administration has made renewable energy development a top priority.

“If you have a site that’s relatively flat, and it’s got low species conflict, and you don’t have developers flocking to it, then you have a problem with that area,” said Shannon Eddy, executive director of the Large-scale Solar Assn.

So I like the idea of more solar on low-harm lands. I hope it happens. But scientists say we have six years to slash climate pollution more than 40%. So for now, I plan to keep penning columns like this one, supporting flawed but well-meaning efforts by the Biden administration and others to balance renewable energy and conservation.

And as for burrowing owls?

The Large-scale Solar Assn. supports endangered species protections for the tiny bird. Eddy told me her member companies spent much of this year preparing for last week’s vote, identifying 15 project sites in the Central Valley and Imperial Valley with signs of owl habitation and working with biologists to craft a conservation strategy.

Still, developers have some concerns about how the process will play out. There will now be new permits to apply for, new financial obstacles to clear. Depending on what state wildlife officials do next, solar companies could find themselves facing new delays and costs that make it even harder for California to meet its climate goals.

“This is a curveball,” Eddy said.

From Faruk Kizil

A pair of Tawny Owls. I missed the second one on my first glance.