March 21, 2018
Featuring: Owls –
Barn Owl, Tyto Alba of Lea County
Barn owls are a common bird flying in the night sky of Lea
County, New Mexico and areas adjoining our County. They are superb hunters with
keen sight and hearing. The barn owl has vision to see into darkest of nights
or in buildings with no lighting, topping any other owl.
Barn owls have very soft feathers, which help them to fly
almost silently. With this flight ability and their keen sight and hearing they
can drop down on their prey and grab the mammal with their extremely sharp talons
killing the meal instantly.
Barn owls are not other raptors that tear their prey apart
while eating. Barn owls swallow their prey whole. Indigestible parts, the bones
and fur, are regurgitated in the form of a pellet. These coughed-up pellets
have been used as science-lab experiments for school children to see what the
owl had eaten.
Barn owls can breed their first year. They are not nest builders
but find a ledge or hollow spot in a tree where the female lays 4 to 6 white
eggs. The barn owl can lay eggs over several days and the first egg is
incubated for 31-days before the owlet hatches. Usually, 3 to 4 eggs hatch and
only 2-3 owlets survive to fly the night sky.
Barn owls have a short life-span. 1 out of 4 or 5 survives
for more than a year. A 6-year old Barn owl is a rarity, although one has been
recorded living for 21-years.
Did you Know – Facts:
Barn owls are
crepuscular; they hunt mainly at dusk and dawn. They fly 2 to 4 feet off
the ground looking for mice and young small rats.
A group of owls are called a ‘parliament’.
A barn owl family over a year’s time can consume 5,000 small mammals. NOW, that’s a lot
of mice!
Barn owls make eerie shree
screams and hissing noises; they do not ‘hoot’.
This owl targets its
prey with sight and sound, dives to the ground, penetrating its talons
through snow, grass and brush to seize the prey with deadly accuracy.
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