Subject: Barn Owl musings
Date: Jan 20 13:39:39 2002
From: Kelly Mcallister - mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov


I don't mind musing about Barn Owls myself. I had a banner Barn Owl year this past.
I was involved with the capture and removal of a Barn Owl trapped deep in the bowels of
the State Capitol and encountered Barn Owls elsewhere in my District. However,
the most notable experience started with a call about a Barn Owl nesting in an old,
non-functional air duct in a state office building. I found an adult on two eggs at the time
and assured the people in the office that they had nothing to worry about (in part because
the duct work was all sealed off and didn't connect with the air space in the
building interior.). Come June, I was called because odors inside the office were overwhelming
and workers were expresing concerns about health in the workplace. I ended up tearing into
the duct work and removing four owlets and putting them in a box mounted on a tree near the
building. I verified a couple of nights later that the adults were bringing food to the
owlets. Later, I got a call from a woman who couldn't sleep because the owlets sat outside
her window and screeched most of the night. The mere fact that the government had been
involved suddenly made it the government's responsibility to deal with the problem (I'm
slowly learning some lessons). The woman had a number of health challenges and problems with
the ventilation in her home (she couldn't close the windows on warm nights or it would get
too stuffy inside) which made the whole situation more complicated than it normally would be.
In any case, I took down my nest box (which the birds weren't dependent upon anymore. The
owlets dipsersed shortly thereafter.

Subsequent to this business, I found out that the Old Olympia Brewery is a paradise for Barn
Owls. Many young have likely been produced from this old building in the past 20 years or more.
I suspect I could get owl use of nest boxes in this area due the sheer number of Barn Owls
recruited into the adult population as a result of this old building providing so many places
for adults to successfully rear their young. The State Capitol building is just a short flight
to the north. Is there a connection? You tell me. Is there any point to this post? No.

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington
Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov