#owlposting

[marlons-musings]

Everyone stay safe out there! Not too sure why Pinky hasn't issued a total lockdown, but those owls are angry. I tried looking outside to see if I could head out this afternoon, and an owl swooped down and took a chunk out of my hair!

It's going to take me forever to fix it...

[itspronouncedtekkit]

i would be throwing up rn if i could >n< poor vera... :((

[lavvythejackalope]

Absolutely in love with the Nestling mascot design! Naturally I had to make one for myself. Lil Peep the Lavvysona.

[newtons-notes]

owls??? what the hell did you do to make them swarm like mosquitoes to a poor bug spray-less person?

ANYWAYZ try luring then with food or something they like. like uuuuuhhhh idk. dead rats or mice. im sure you can make a mouse trap

just throw the mice or rats away from the manor but close enough so the owls can see it. maybe to a little trail like in hansel and gretel and lure them into a shed where you can lock them inside

I didn't do anything! Pinky Buflooms, but not our Pinky Buflooms, if that makes sense- is trying to find Queen Pinky at the moment... But her owls have nested just about everywhere from here to Bunkum Lagoon, and they're quite aggressive...

I doubt I'll be able to go outside long enough to toss out rodents, let alone lock them in a shed. And even then, they'll just associate the manor with food...

[strixxaluca]

Lesser Sooty Owl

Binomial: Tyto multipunctata

Location: wet tropics of the Australasian region

Population: of Least Concern

Eyes: suggests nocturnal hunter

Subspecies: None Recorded

Size: Females weigh 1000-1200 g (2.2lbs-2.7lbs) and are 44–51 cm (17.32”-20.08”) and males weigh 550-700 g (1.21lbs-1.54lbs) and range in height from 37–43 cm (15”-17”)

The lesser sooty owl inhabits primarily old-growth forests with tree hollows near 1m deep. They mostly nest, forage and roost in less disturbed areas of the forest near the riparian zones and rainforest gullies. They tend to avoid open or exposed areas of the forest and prefer dark, cool and sheltered locations. The bird commonly roosts in foliage, vines, inside hollows of large mature trees, in caves and rocky cliff edges. Since their habitat range is confined to these dense, wetter forest types, the lesser sooty owl is considered to be a habitat specialist. In fact, they are the only member of the Tytonidae family to live deep within the forests of the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

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[verrsus]

ruel

[wireveined]

GUYSSSSS

GUYSSSSSSSS

GUYSSSSSSSS OWL HOUSE SEASON 3 OCTOBER 15 REAL??

luz came out as bi using a lumity slideshow

[my-brain-is-hatching]

What hyperfixation does to a motherfucker: I am literally following all the blogs that post in the guardians of Ga'Hoole tag

[candieduranium]

rb to stare at a mutual like this:

[owlandwillpeck]

My boyfriend gave me this

Gosh i love him :)

[theburrowsgarden]

Pest Control

If you Google “field mice”, some of the top results you will get are related to pest control. Roaches, crickets, prairie dogs–most people see these things in their home or garden and beeline straight to the pest control section of Home Depot. There are multitudes of options out there for getting rid of these common household pests, many of which are chemical. These products may be advertised as safe around children and pets, but are they safe around the ecosystem? If burrowing owls are your thing–or owls in general!–you may want to double-think grabbing the nearest can of bug spray.

Pesticides can have a more profound effect on predatory bird populations than on the prey that they eat. It makes sense, if you think about it: one mouse may have a small amount of contaminant in its system, but raptors don’t just eat one mouse, much like you can’t just eat a single Pringle®. By eating more and more of these contaminated mice, their predators suffer from rising levels of poisons being metabolized in their system. This can be especially bad for burrowing owls, since they are known to occasionally scavenge for food¹; a rodent that had died from a lethal dose of agricultural pesticides could look like an easy take-out meal for burrowing owls.

Once you pop, you can’t stop (please don't sue me Pringles). Credit to Jeff Strong of Bear River Blogger.

The fact that burrowing owls are pretty tolerant of urban environments also brings them closer to common pesticides used in our attempts to get rid of rats. A huge number of owls in urban environments have traces of anticoagulant rodenticides in their systems, and, concerningly, we don’t really know how much they can tolerate before it becomes too toxic for them to handle, or how these rodenticides will affect their populations.² These chemicals are also persistent, staying in the environment for long periods of time. Although not the primary cause of death, a concerning amount of rodenticide was found in Flaco the Eurasian eagle owl’s blood after he passed away after having been released from Bronx Zoo from vandals and free-roaming for just one year.³

Flaco the Eurasian eagle owl. We miss you, buddy! Credit to Seth Wenig of the Associated Press.

So, it’s obvious that using traditional pesticides can be very harmful to burrowing owls and other predatory raptors. That being said, you might still have an issue with pests in your yard and your home. What are some alternative options? Well, I will preface by saying this: there is no “one size fits all” solution, and many forms of pest management that do not involve chemical pesticides take time to develop. If they don’t work out for you, or if you feel like chemical pesticides can tide you over while you develop less toxic pest control measures, be sure to visit the Environmental Protection Agency’s Do’s and Don’ts of Pest Control for tips on how to minimize potential risk to yourself and your environment. However, if you do decide to go the alternative route, remember that, in the end, you will be creating your own personal habitat, resilient against not only pests, but resilient against disease and climate change as well.

One method you may want to consider, especially for insects, is companion planting. Though research on how companion planting works is still in its infancy and generally focused on large agriculture, the concepts can still be applied.⁴ By incorporating plants that attract the natural predators for pests into your garden, you will be able to naturally deter and diminish the pest population.

When it comes to the bigger stuff, like field mice, rats, moles, or gophers, there are a lot of simple, nonlethal ways to prevent them from finding a tasty snack in your garden without outright eliminating them from your local ecosystem. After all, their presence is beneficial to the environment, by stirring up the soil and improving its quality as well as creating homes for native wildlife, such as burrowing owls.⁵ One of the easiest, “set it and forget it” type options available may be using a wire mesh basket, often called “gopher baskets”, to put the roots of your plants in as you plant them. These can protect the main body of your plant while allowing for growth and, most importantly, still allowing burrowing critters to do their thing!

An example of a large gopher basket to protect a tree sapling. It’s like a cute little prison for trees! Credit to Deanne Talerico of Homestead and Chill, here is a link to her instructions on how to make these yourself!

This is a particularly short list of actions you can take to make your garden a little more critter-friendly. For more specific information that may be more relevant to the ecosystem you live within, look out for workshops and classes on gardening in your local area! Often run by community centers, these types of gatherings are a great way to connect with other gardeners and share tips on how to make a more sustainable, eco-friendly habitat.

¹Klute, D., Ayers, L., Green, M., Howe, W., Jones, S., Shaffer, J., Sheffield, S., & Zimmerman, T. (2003). Status assessment and conservation plan for the western burrowing owl in the United States. United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usfwspubs/483

²Gomez, E. A., Hindmarch, S., & Smith, J. A. (2021). Conservation letter: Raptors and anticoagulant rodenticides. Journal of Raptor Research, 56(1). https://doi.org/10.3356/jrr-20-122

³Hutchinson, B. (2024, March 25). Zoo releases final necropsy results on Flaco the owl’s death. ABC News; ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/zoo-releases-final-necropsy-results-flaco-owls-death/story?id=108479170

⁴Saldanha, A. V., Gontijo, L. M., Carvalho, R. M. R., Vasconcelos, C. J., Corrêa, A. S., & Gandra, R. L. R. (2019). Companion planting enhances pest suppression despite reducing parasitoid emergence. Basic and Applied Ecology, 41, 45–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2019.10.002

⁵Davidson, A. D., Detling, J. K., & Brown, J. H. (2012). Ecological roles and conservation challenges of social, burrowing, herbivorous mammals in the world’s grasslands. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 10(9), 477–486. https://doi.org/10.1890/110054

[blockytheblock1]

silly owl!!

[lifeinthegladhouse]

I keep dreaming about owls. Had a dream that one was struggling in a rain puddle in the mud because there was something lodged in his wing!

[lavvythejackalope]

Did some fanart of my favorite vtuber, @owlcheszlo and eir soulmate pokemon, sobble~ Which seems thematic with Ras, somehow.

[oupycoded]

eda clawthorne is a system to ME

[strixxaluca]

Owl Fact #1

An owl’s young is called an owlet at hatching, and a fledgling when it is almost done growing its feathers!

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Photo: The Barn Owl Trust