I have read that barn owls are being used quite successfully by commercial growers for rodent control in California. While living out there caring for my father, I saw barn owls on a few occasions. However, I understand that barn owls are not often seen in Wisconsin. I, for one, have never seen one here. Still, I broke down and ordered a pricey barn owl house to erect near my rural orchard. I am wondering if others in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area have any experiences or barn owl sitings to share. Northwoodswis4
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Here is a link from All About Birds (I’m an amatuer birder) about barn owls for you:
I would contact your local Audubon society and see if you have barn owls in your area, it is possible, depending upon where you are in WI. I have a barn owl house on my property, and so do my next door neighbors as well as my neighbor across the street. Many of our citrus orchards still in use have barn owl houses posted at the ends of the tree rows. We have had some barn owls take interest in our house, but no nest, yet. They DO, however, like to sit on my gate arbor that leads down to my walk & pick orchard and watch for any meals that might come their way. That’s why I use non-kill through baits - too many predators, and don’t want to kill an owl, hawk, snake, or weasel. I routinely see barn owl poop under my arbor, and had one swoop right over my head one evening, when I went out to the back walkway (lost a year of my life after that - they are silent and very white at night). They also make a very scary noise, their call is kind of terrifying, lol!! Sadly, we also have a fairly large population of Giant Horned owls, who prey on baby Barn owls, so make sure your barn owl box does not have a perch or platform outside the hole. GHO’s will sit on that perch or platform, and pick off the baby barn owls as they try to fledge.
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I think you’d have more luck with snakes. Pine snakes, milk snakes, and bull snakes should be in your area. Might be worth releasing some on your property. A few snakes can take out a lot of rodents.
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I did some research online and discovered that barn owls were “extirpated” in Wisconsin in 1984. We are also on the far northern edge of their range. I guess I will have to start a new trend with my expensive owl house.
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Northwoods, I’d still erect it, and see if you can attract some. Sit out in your yard at dusk and see if you see any barn owls. They’re pretty easy to spot looking up, as their undersides are white. Let us know how things go, I’d be interested to see if you do get any visitors.
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I’d be just tickled if any kind of owl took up residence around my place. Not only are they probably the most awesome rodent hunters they are also beautiful and very interesting. Even in places where they are abundant, they are really not too often seen by the average American.
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I agree, Jeff. We can go out just about any evening here, walk around at dusk and either here or see a Barn owl or Great Horned owl. We have a lot of birds of prey here. One of my very favorites is the White Tailed Kite. They are one of the only birds (besides hummingbirds), that can hover in one place. I think we sort of expect that sort of amazing flying ability with the tiny hummingbird, but to watch a large bird of prey hover in mid-air, then collapse its wings and just drop out of the sky in a controlled drop to grab its prey is really amazing.
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This thread is 5 years old and I think it worth resurrecting for GF 5th aniversery.
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I got two of these last year. I’m still waiting for a bird to nest. Hopefully this year
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Barn owls are beautiful, we had a nesting pair on our street a few years ago that were amazing to see. Unfortunately i read that they typically hunt 3-4 miles away from their nests to avoid attracting predators. I should find a friend three miles away and get them interested in a box!!
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I want to revive this topic.
See here I notice information suggestion a exercise pad. Then i think in this thread i read that larger owl will use the ledge to kill the barn owl babies… I am thinking to make a couple nests esp because the garden is already taking losses in mid summer which usually doesn’t happen until mid to late fall.
I would like to hear of people first hand experiences with owl housing, if there are people here with the experiences.
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We put up a purchased barn owl house several years ago. We are a bit too far north for them, so it sits empty. That type of house is effective in California fruit orchards, but was a waste of money out of barn owl range here.
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I think mink is the best assured solution if you can get one. There are mink adoption site and you might be lucky to adopt one or two.
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Years of empty nest. Nothing has ever used these owl boxes
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Still nothing in our barn owl house, either.
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