Brandon Holden Photography

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Owls in the Barn?

Many times while driving around birding, my Dad and I would spot old abandoned buildings or barns and say "Good Barn Owl barn" but we never stopped. Starting February 27th, however, we made two short ventures into these buildings but found nothing. The very next day though (28th) we had a bit of success! An old barn that was our best candidate of the day showed no owls. A quick look around the ground, showed a long since dead Possum and old Pigeon feathers. However, one feather seemed to stand out. See below for two images:

 

 

My flash over-powered the above ruler, so I added in the numbers, but it still gives a good look. It appeared to be a wing feather and probably one of the coverts (either primary covert, greater covert or median covert)... The larger size, colour and location all fit for Barn Owl very well... When looking at pictures on the internet, of North American Barn Owls, the pattern of the feather itself matched Barn Owl very well. The white spot at the very tip, with darker feathers below, and then paler brownish for the remainder (and blotchy pattern) all seem to fit!

While there wasn't a Barn Owl inside, and the feather seemed very worn (and possibly a few years old), i'm somewhat curious as to how long a feather could last. I guessed it could easily be a few years old, but what are the possibilities? Would insects, mammals or birds eventually chew or remove feathers like this? It was in the middle of the barn (and not hidden or near any other objects), that might give a clue to how long ago the bird could have been in the area. it was still very exciting to have this first bit of luck on only our 2nd day of actually looking! We're hoping to eventually find a whole bird!

If anyone else has any luck finding a Barn Owl, I would suggest only telling the Barn Owl recovery team, and not report it to the large birding community. I'm not usually for keeping any birds secret, but Barn Owls really are on their last legs in Ontario!

 

 

 

 

 

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