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

Saturday, August 11, 2012

The San Francisco Airport Marriot Waterfront got some surprise guests

The San Francisco Airport Marriot Waterfront in Burlingame has some new and unusual guests. Hotel staff discovered six baby barn owls on the 11th floor balcony as the latest guests seeking shelter at the hotel.

Hotel staff reached out to the San Mateo SPCA and learned that, as barn owls, the animals are native protected birds of prey. Since the owls’ arrival six weeks ago, the hotel has been dedicated to the owl’s privacy and growth.

“Even when we’re sold out at the San Francisco Airport Marriot Waterfront, the owl family is not relocated to another property,” said General Manager Clif Clark.

In honor of the winged guests, hotel staff began giving stuffed animal owls to children at the hotel when they visit the owl site.

Each day, adults owls including the group’s parents visit the babies, bringing them prey they hunt at night. SPCA officials said barn owls often nest in the same spot each year if it’s determined to be safe, so the Marriot can expect the return of barn owls in coming years.

The family of barn owls is doing well, and the management has toyed with names for the baby owls:
Hoot, Nanny, Al, Peter Townsend, Robert Plant, Hedwig and Archimedes.