News

Site News

Suffolk barn owls recovering after 'terrible year'

Barn owl numbers in Suffolk are recovering after a "truly terrible year", Suffolk Wildlife Trust has said.

About 70 chicks have been recorded on its reserves this year, with some nest boxes "bursting at the seams" with young owls.

The trust said weather conditions in 2013 had decimated the owls' preferred prey, short tailed voles, and at one point 20 owls a day were dying.

It said owl populations can recover, given "sufficient habitat".

There are about 1,700 barn owl nest boxes across the county.

Last year on the Suffolk coast, where there are 75 boxes, only one brood of two chicks was recorded.

Of the 44 boxes checked this year, 20 chicks have been ringed, including two broods of six, which the trust said was "relatively uncommon".

'Marked change'

Head of conservation Dorothy Casey said last year had been "truly terrible" for barn owls.

"The wet weather conditions meant low numbers of voles and the barn owls were literally starving to death," she said.

"Already this year we are seeing a marked change."

She added while the population had been hit badly, those which survived were breeding.

"Their productivity, due to the abundance of food, is extremely high," she said.

"This year's results show that barn owl populations can recover well from adverse weather conditions providing there is sufficient habitat."

The British Trust for Ornithology estimates there are about 4,000 breeding pairs of barn owls in the UK.

It lists their conservation status as "amber", indicating the species is, or has recently been, in decline.

Read the original article.

"Super-Toxic" Rat Poison Sale Banned in California to Protect Wildlife

There’s a change coming to California stores that may help protect wildlife.

State authorities have banned the sale of a toxic rat poison after deeming it a significant danger to animals.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation imposed the ban Monday, restricting second generation anticoagulant rodenticides – commonly referred to as “super-toxic” rat poisons – from being sold to California consumers.

The products were sold under names such as d-CON Mouse Prufe II, d-CON Bait Pellets and Just One Bite, the agency said.

“They had to be removed from store shelves – only people who are trained and certified to handle them will be allowed to use them in California,” said DPR spokesperson Charlotte Fadipe.Fadipe said that the now-banned rodenticide contained the chemicals brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum or difethialone, which DPR classified as “restrictive materials.”

“If a rat comes along and eats these poisons on a Monday, it will still be running around on a Tuesday or Wednesday – during that time if a barn owl or a coyote eats the rat, the poison ends up in their bodies,” Fadipe said. “That’s why it’s so dangerous.”

Sometimes even pets may eat the rodents, Fadipe said.

A study conducted by DPR and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife from 1995 to 2010 found residues of the poison in 75 percent of the dead animals studied.

Animals adversely affected by the poison include barn owls, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons and the endangered San Joaquin kit fox.

“There’s a whole range of methods to tackle pests, including non-chemical ones, like getting a cat or an owl, or using other products that are not a threat to wildlife,” Fadipe said.

Reckitt Benckiser, one of the 17 manufacturers of the poison, initially tried to delay the consumer ban, taking DPR to court.

But a Superior Court judge agreed with the ban and the company has agreed to phase out production nationally by next year.

Read the original article here..

Syrian boy catches Israeli barn owl and sets it free

Owl, raised in a joint government-Tel Aviv University project, had an identifying ring; boy posts find in online birdwatching forum.

The Dove of Peace Is Ailing. Meet Israel's Barn Owl of Bonhomie

Uncover the unsung heroes of urban biodiversity! 🌱🦉 Delve into this captivating piece shedding light on Israel's barn owl community and their significant impact on fostering harmony and sustainability.

The Social Language of Bats

An interesting article from the Merlin Tuttle Bat Conservation on how bats use social calls to communicate. Researchers are uncovering the complexity of bat vocalisations, showing that their sounds have meanings similar to human speech.

"The use of drones for mosquito surveillance and control"

"The novel use of drones (or uncrewed aerial vehicles) may play a major role in the success of mosquito surveillance and control programmes in the coming decades since the global landscape of mosquito-borne diseases and disease dynamics fluctuates frequently and there could be serious public health consequences if the issues of insecticide resistance and outdoor transmission are not adequately addressed."

The vulnerable bats of Biak-na-Bato

"The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Central Luzon (DENR-CL) announced in October the arrest of four alleged wildlife poachers, who were caught with 6,200 wrinkle-lipped bats (Chaerephon plicatus) they took from Bahay Paniki Cave inside the Biak-na-Bato National Park (BNBNP) in San Miguel, Bulacan, one of the oldest protected areas (PAs) in the country."

The winds of change

Despite unresolved issues, Durban is still going ahead with its wind turbine project - slap bang in the middle of the Beachfront

Durban is getting three new wind turbines just in time for the UN climate change conference – despite the unresolved rumpus over turbine blades slicing up a major bat colony on the Bluff.

But the latest project – slap bang on the Durban beachfront – is unlikely to threaten any bats or birds. And the turbines are a lot smaller. So small, in fact, that the miniature model turbines have been installed at Minitown.

The World’s Largest Mammal Migration Is Taking Place in Zambia Right Now

''Each year, millions of straw-colored fruit bats descend on Kasanka National Park for a few months, and scientists are working to understand their mysterious journey'' - Smithsonian Magazine

Think Fast! Bats Make Decisions In Mere Milliseconds

Bats are among nature's quickest thinkers, capable of making actual split-second decisions. Using echolocation, or ultrasonic squeaks to locate prey, bats interpret the returning echo to decide when and how to attack, or even to call off the attempt — all within milliseconds, as researchers at the University of Southern Denmark discovered.

Thousands of bats drop dead from trees in NSW heatwave

Thousands of bats have dropped dead in the heat, falling from the trees as scorching summer conditions blasted south-eastern Australia over the weekend.

Thousands of owls are killed on Diwali annually.

"It’s a sad irony that come Diwali and while Goddess Laxmi is widely worshipped and the faithful believe that Goddess Laxmi (Goddess of Wealth) enters their house on the day of Diwali, her vehicle the Owl is sacrificed in thousands that day due to occult practices. Age-old myths and superstitions surrounding owl sacrifice lead to a virtual drop in the owl population of the country."

Three baby owls discovered in box

Comaro Chronicle: Oakdene residents Dennis and Melanie Preston were absolutely amazed when the owl box they’d had put onto the side of their home six years ago, was, in fact, housing an owl and her three babies.

Three baby owls make Robin Hills their home

Randburg Sun: ROBIN HILLS – Three newborn owlets were ringed with tags on 9 October.

Three children dead after eating rat poison

An inquest docket has been registered for further investigation following the deaths of three children who died after allegedly eating rat poison.

Three dead squirrels and a packet of rat poison found nearby to a Barn Owl nestbox.

"The extent to which SGARs have contaminated small-mammal predators is shocking. The Rat Poison Rodenticide Neosorexa On Farmproportion of Barn Owls contaminated reached its highest level in 2015, an alarming 94%. The latest (2019) figure is 87%. ;"

Three Spotted Eagle Owlets in Waterkloof!

It is important to ensure your owl boxes are serviced every year before the owl breeding season. This is to ensure that the box in your tree is an owl box suitable for the female owl to lay her eggs and raise her young.
 
      
 
These beautiful pictures were sent to us from one of our owl box clients in Pretoria. We regularly receive mail and calls from despondent owl box owners who have waited years for owls without success. Very often they have purchased owl boxes from nurseries, from owl organisations or they have had one made by a well-meaning friend. The unfortunate truth is that many of these owl boxes have no possibility for owl occupation. They are not owl boxes at all. They are in reality, just a box in a tree.
 
EcoSolutions Urban Ecology visits estates and golf courses who have installed owl boxes that have zero potential of ever being an owl home. We can't guarantee that if you put up an EcoSolutions Urban Ecology owl box you will experience the joy of owls in your garden. However, with over 100 occupied owl boxes in Gauteng alone, we can guarantee that the owl box in your tree maximises every potential for owls and is a viable owl breeding site. We can also guarantee that its annual service and maintenance ensures that it remains so.
 
Send us a message, drop us a mail or give us a call, perhaps we can help? 
 
011 791 7326 || 072 365 9777 || info@ecosolutions.co.za
 
If you have friends or you live in an estate with unoccupied owl boxes, please share this post and suggest that they connect with us. 

Time to give a hoot about owls

Germiston City News: Owlproject.org promotes an age-old form of pest control.

Regenerative Agriculture to secure a sustainable future in the EU

''We are facing an environmental crisis and must act immediately to avert it. Regenerative agriculture could be one of the answers.''

Two new species of dog-face bat discovered!

Flitting swiftly through the darkness above the tropical forest canopy in Central and South America, a group of cute little bats with dog-like faces have long been hiding a big secret. Now, their secret is out.