PULLMAN, Wash. - Twelve orphaned baby barn owls rescued from two destroyed nests in Central Washington have a new home thanks to a pair of nesting boxes and a collaboration between Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and the Horticulture Center.
The owls, part of an influx of wildlife cases at WSU's Veterinary Teaching Hospital this year following the closure of a regional rehabilitation center in Benton City, Washington, will reside in the nesting boxes, or hack boxes, until they are ready to fledge and hunt on their own. As opposed to raising the owls in an enclosure and then releasing them once fully grown, WSU wildlife veterinarian Dr. Marcie Logsdon said the nesting boxes simulate a more natural process of fledgling.
"They still don't have parents teaching them, but if you put them in before they can fly, they start to associate that box as their home nest and they will eventually head out on their own, just like they would have in the wild," said WSU wildlife veterinarian Dr. Marcie Logsdon. "They can continue returning to the nest box for food until they are successfully hunting on their own."
They still don't have parents teaching them, but if you put them in before they can fly, they start to associate that box as their home nest and they will eventually head out on their own, just like they would have in the wild.
Dr. Marcie Logsdon, wildlife veterinarian
Washington State University
In addition to meeting a critical wildlife need, the boxes are expected to address critical pest control needs at WSU's Horticulture Center, where gophers, voles and mice can disturb young trees and plants. Barn owls can eat as many as four rodents in a night.
"From an orchard perspective, it's biodiversity, sustainability and reducing the amount of chemicals we have to put into the environment, but from a university perspective, it offers a teachable experience to students or anyone else interested," said Grant Glover, who installed the boxes and cares for the plants and trees at the Horticulture Center.
The nesting boxes are expected to house orphaned barn owls for years to come at the Horticulture Center, located on WSU's Spillman Agronomy Farm. By using the boxes, owls may return to the boxes as adults to nest, which may warrant more boxes at the site in the future.
Logsdon said accidental nest destruction is one of the leading causes for orphaned barn owls and the reason for the latest batch of barn owl orphans, as the raptors like to nest in tight cavities and often resort to commercial haystacks.
"The parents see this small gap in the tarps, and behind it they find a perfect little space between the hay bales and they like to nest in there. Then when it comes time for the hay to be sold or used, the nestlings get displaced, or the hay will be moved and later it will be discovered there are baby barn owls in there," Logsdon said. "We try to keep babies with parents, but oftentimes that doesn't happen."
Logsdon said orphaned and injured wildlife cases have surpassed 500 cases already and are expected to shatter last year's record of about 600 cases.
"We are swimming in wildlife right now, but if this is successful, we could use this technique for other species." she said.
There are just seven permitted wildlife rehabilitators, including WSU, in eastern Washington. According to the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife website, WSU is the only 24-hour emergency service for wildlife rehabilitation in Washington east of the Cascades, just one of two that takes in mammals, and the only facility that will take in orphaned or abandoned mammals. Donations and assistance from the public help WSU to continue to care for as many wildlife patients as possible.
