May 15, 2019

Baby Barn Owl Banding

Photo credit: Corie Smith

Not even the threat of downpours could dampen the excitement of a baby barn owl viewing. Ready with boots, raincoats and umbrellas, chapter members Corie Smith and Jenna Veazey ventured across the Potomac river to Maryland to support the Southern Maryland Audubon Society’s (SMAS) banding of baby Barn Owls on May 5th.
Corie and Jenna joined a group of other volunteers and supporters that met on private property along the Wicomico River, which the group was instructed not to share the exact location of…for the safety of the owls. Barn owls are rare breeders in Maryland and are listed as In Need of Conservation. 
Mike Callahan, who also works as an interpreter at Caledon State Park in King George, is a member of the SMAS. The group had been closely monitoring an owl box on private property. Mike said there were only three known nests in Charles County, Maryland.
Their best guess was that this nest’s eggs had hatched the end of April. Barn owls incubate their eggs as soon as they the first one is laid, opposed to ducks, geese and songbirds which incubate after the last egg has been laid.  And when the owlets have grown enough feathers to maintain their body weight the parents don’t hang around the nest all day anymore. There appeared to be five owlets, but as siblicide is not uncommon the volunteers were cautiously optimistic we’d be able to tag all five on the banding day.
Photo credit: Corie Smith
Just as the rain abated, Mike climbed the ladder up to the owl box. He urged everyone to listen for the owlet’s hissing…which he said had been described as an espresso machine. Very accurate, indeed! It didn’t take long after the extraction of the first owlet for the hissing to turn into all-out shrieks. Five owlets were carefully removed one-by-one and placed into individual cardboard boxes for safe transport to the pavilion where they’d receive their ID bands. Mike then called out for an extra box…there was a bonus sixth owlet that had been hidden in previous observations!
Under cover of a pavilion, USGS licensed bird bander, Ken Smith was in charge of banding the owlets. He used size 7A aluminum bands specially gauged for barn owls, each with their own unique identifying number. He explained the owlets’ legs were already about as large as they'd get at this age and there was no worry that the bands would grow too tight over time. As he worked, he also said that while handling the owlets they had to be especially careful not to break any of their flight feathers.
Photo credit: Corie Smith
Mike pointed out that barn owls have one toe with a pectinate comb, which they use to groom the feathers on their facial discs.
Kerry Wixted, Maryland DNR Wildlife Educator and Outreach specialist was also helping out. She said that, “Barn owls are have been hit hard by habitat loss, especially in Maryland. Grasslands with abundant voles and other rodents are important for barn owls as well as open marshes.”
If you would like to support local barn owl conservation in Maryland, consider 'adopting' an owl or other species through the SMAS program: https://www.somdaudubon.org/adopt-a-raptor/

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