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Community Corner

Barn Owls for Rat Control in Alameda?

Using owls to get rid of rodents is all the rage these days. Would it work in Alameda?

In a recent comment on  about rats in Alameda, reader Liz Taylor brought up the tantalizing idea of putting up owl boxes in backyards to attract local barn owls.

This species, in case you don't know, is a big lover of rats and other rodents. One pair can eat about 2,000 rats or mice a year! They are also gorgeous when full-grown and pretty much impossibly cute when they are still "owlets." (Think little owl faces surrounded by clouds of fluff.) And, of course, having an owl take away your rats is  and, frankly, more pleasant than trapping rats yourself.

But would it work in Alameda?

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Owls in Alameda

Barn owls like Alameda, says Lisa Owens Viani, development director of the Golden Gate Audobon Society, because they like nesting in Canary Island palm trees, which are all over the Island. In fact, Viani says, if you go out walking between 9 p.m. and midnight "and keep your ears and eyes open," you might just hear the call of a barn owl. 

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Theirs isn't the typical "woo-hoot" that we associate with owls (that's a great horned owl). The barn owl makes more of a hissing, raspy call. You can hear it here .

More evidence of owls in Alameda: the "Christmas Count," an annual survey of birds in local communities, generally comes up with three to four barn owls each year, say Bay Farm birdwatchers Diane and Timothy Molter. Those owls are generally found in the palms along Washington Park.

Viani knows a lot about barn owls because she started Keep Barn Owls in Berkeley a few years ago when she learned that people were cutting down their Canary Island palms because they didn't like the sound that the barn owlets make (a sound she likens to that of "an old man on a respirator").

Since then, Viani has been on a crusade to help barn owls in the East Bay. In fact, just recently she started a new group, Raptors Are the Solution (or RATS), to encourage people to use raptors — versus poisons — for rat control.

Attracting Barn Owls

Now about those owl boxes: Basically,if you build it (a barn owl box), they (the barn owls) will come. And you can find both ready-made boxes and directions for building a box at WildCare's Hungry Owl Project, a nonprofit specifically devoted to getting people to use owls instead of poison for rodent control.

"We encourage people to get owl boxes," says Melanie Piazza, director of animal care at WildCare. "But you have to do it right. You have to have the right kind of box, at the right height and orientation. And you have to be willing to clean it out once a year, because the owls can't do it themselves."

You also need to find out if your neighbors are poisoning rats.

"Barn owls will prey on sick or injured rats, like those that have been poisoned," Viani says. "And there's abundant evidence that rat poison kills owls. You don't want to end up hurting owls in your attempt to get rid of rats." (To learn more about rat poison and owls, check out this Scientific American article.)

Want to learn more about owls? The Hungry Owl Project will be holding its annual Evening with Owls on Nov. 18 in Mill Valley. The fundraiser will include barn owls and great horned owls, as well as hawks, turkey vultures, falcons, and the largest owl species in the world, the Eurasian eagle owl, which has a wingspan of 5 feet. You can get more information here.

And if you want to watch owls live on a webcam, check out this page on the Hungry Owl site.

Rat Poison Update

By the way, here's some interesting news about rat poison: the EPA has banned the use of some of the most toxic kinds rat poison in household products, specifically because of the threat they pose to children, pets and wildlife.

These poisons include brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone and difenacoum, which are found in brand name products like D-Con, Rid-a-Rat and Hot Shot Sudden Death. The EPA is also banning the sale of rat poisons sold as pellets and those not packaged as enclosed bait "stations." 

So check the labels of poisons before you buy them. Or better yet, don't buy them at all.

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