Barn Owls

[Carma Sue Henry]

A friend who works with horses near Mac Forest sent some pics of the barn owls that live in their barn.  The first 4 are older fledglings from last year and the last is a legs only (four sets) of the new clutch from this year taken a couple of days ago.  He said they did some damage to the insulation when they first starting nesting (tho not nearly as much as rodents) so they fixed up a more controlled and cleanable spot for them.  They do such a good job of rodent control that they haven't been evicted. 

The next two are of the two year old doe, Gracie, trimming up the apple trees for us and resting in the shade of the house where some of the last green grass keeps the ground cooler.  Since we've been keeping track (9 yrs) a couple of the other does have had pregnancies at two but only one was successful.  Gracie is very sweet natured and still spends time with the four out of five yearlings remaining from last year.  Boss Mom, who is at least 10 now, appears to have lost her fawn as she is not nursing and has some bare spots on her neck and flanks that look like predator wounds. Right after she reappeared after a two week birthing absence, she was actively chasing away her male fawn from last year but is now allowing him to spend time with her again.

The last pic is of the entrance hole (one of MANY in the yard) of what I think is a vole; neatly trimmed of encroaching vegetation.  We haven't seen the Bobcat recently, but did see it successfully pull a vole out of the grass and go off with it a couple of months ago.  We hope the weasel family will also make a dent in the vole and shrew population.  Unfortunately, we have already noticed fewer of the sweet little chipmunks.  I guess we don't get to allow our value judgments to dictate what is on their dinner menu.

Carma

Logsdon Ridge