SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Sunday, October 16, 2011

New noise sensors could cut owl road deaths in Norfolk, UK

Tyto alba pratincola - North AmericaBBC NEWS - 4 November 2010 - Archived 
Research shows up to 3,000 barn owls are killed on Britain's roads each year.
Sensors are going to be installed on Norfolk's roads in a bid to cut the number of owls being killed by traffic.


The Hawk and Owl Trust, at Sculthorpe near Fakenham, is identifying black spots where owls, particularly barn owls, have been struck and killed.
It will then install sensors that react to headlights and emit a noise that deflects wildlife away from the road.
The Hawk and Owl Trust is asking people to help by looking out for and reporting any owl or other bird of prey casualties on the county's roads.

'Noise will alert'
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They plan to install deflectors that, when activated by headlights, would release one of five different sounds randomly.

The Trust is hoping the noise will alert owls or other birds of prey that could be at risk from the traffic as they hunt along the wide grassy road verges. They will monitor progress to identify any increase or reduction in owl mortality as a result.
Hawk and Owl Trust president Chris Packham said: "This seems a really sensible appliance of science and if it works we might see more owls in our countryside.We know from earlier trust research that a significant proportion of the young owl population gets taken out on Britain's roads."

Another charity, That we all know and love "The Barn Owl Trust", estimates that in a typical year Britain's 4,000 pairs of Barn Owls produce roughly 12,000 young and 3,000 of these are killed on roads.
In Sweden, where they are being trailed on moose, the great grey owl mortality rate has also gone down.
The hawk and owl trust link below
http://www.hawkandowl.org/