Owlet

A Barn Owl (Tyto alba) toddler, looking rather alien, can just be glimpsed inside this nest box via long focus. Rather unique looking, Barn Owls are found all over the world, with some 46 recognized subspecies (!), including one on the Galapagos that is half the size of the North American version. Island dwarfism in action.

I met a birder there from western New York, who lived in NYC 40 years ago, who said they don’t find Barn Owls much out there any more on Christmas counts. Habitat loss, rodenticide, and cars have contributed to their declines in some parts of their range. Nest boxes can help. To the best of my knowledge, there hasn’t been one recorded in Brooklyn for decades; it’s one of the borough’s holy grails, along with that damned Raven nest. [Snowy, Great Horned, Screech, and Saw-whet have all been found in Brooklyn.]

Update: my knowledge is suspect. There was a Barn at Floyd Bennett Field last October. Prospect hasn’t had one reported since 1946. Maybe I mean a Barn Owl nest…