Barn Owl Threats

Britain s barn owls under threat due to extreme weather this article is more than 7 years old cold wet springs have led to worst breeding season in three decades which has devastated the species.

Barn owl threats. This medium sized owl has long broad rounded. In many parts of the world people fear barn owls and mistakenly believe that they are harbingers of death. Explore facts about this night time hunter. Threats to woods and trees.

This nocturnal predator can be found in farmland across the uk seeking out small mammals to feed on. Barn owls eat almost exclusively rodents making them very important for pest control but the use of rodenticides to control rodent populations will also kill the owls and other predators that eat the poisoned rodents. Colony farm regional park burnaby lowlands delta and south surrey barn owls can be found co occurring quite extensively with short eared owls. The primary threat to the eastern population of the barn owl in canada is the loss of optimal foraging habitat supporting sufficient prey populations adjacent to suitable nesting and roosting features resulting from changing agricultural practices and urbanization.

Fences are a threat to owls that feed in open areas such as barn owls and short eared owls. Barn owl overlaps in distribution and habitat preferences with several other owls on the south coast including short eared owl and barred owl. With their signature heart shaped faces bright white underparts and mottled golden buff upperparts these birds are a striking sight. In fact only a third of barn owls survive long enough to reach breeding age with predation by larger birds starvation during lean winters and car collisions all posing a serious challenge to barn owls.

The same climate change driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people too. The barn owl is known for its distinctive heart shaped face ghostly white plumage and haunting shriek. Tragically many owls are shot and killed for this reason. Though a common species throughout most of its range the barn owl faces many threats and is becoming rarer in some areas where it was once common.

Captive barn owls have lived for as long as 25 years which is likely the barn owl s true lifespan but the majority of wild barn owls don t survive more than 10 years. While flying over the fields to hunt these birds can easily collide with fences and become tangled in the wire or netting causing injuries damaged feathers strangulation or starvation. By far the biggest threat to barn owls living in proximity to humans is mouse and rat poison. Like most owls and birds of prey female barn owls are larger than males.

In the agricultural and old field habitats of the south coast e g. Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases.