We do give a hoot
As humans encroach more on the habitat of owls, these majestic birds are now common in suburbs. Luke Alfred found one in his garden
strike] Pikitup didn’t pick it up,” says Haw with a flourish. Owls have homed in on the rodent explosion, feeding and feasting, demonstrating that the relationship between animals “out there” in the countryside and the “in here” of cities is not immutable, but effortlessly dynamic.
“If you grew up in Johannesburg when I did you might remember that we were told as children that syringa berries are poisonous and we should never eat them,” he says. “The loeries who advanced on the city ate the berries with no apparent ill-effects. The animal life of the city is a rapidly changing dynamic.”
Owls not only keep the rising rodent population in check but the female owl’s egg-laying capacity is in direct proportion to her fat reserves — an indication of how regularly she has eaten. Simply put, the bigger her fat reserves, the larger her brood. Female barn owls, for example, can lay 10 or 12 eggs. Indeed, mating might be taking place in a tree (or on the ground somewhere quiet) near you at this very moment, with the winter solstice acting as the trigger for generalised owl friskiness. After gestation and hatching, it is a mere 35 days before baby owls start hunting. “I estimate that between 50% and 60% of barn owls die before they are one year old,” says Haw. “Without doubt the main cause of owl mortality is starvation. They’re simply not able to feed themselves sufficiently.”
While urban owls have swooped down on the spiking rodent population, the rats themselves are getting smarter, an example of their savvy being what Haw refers to as “bait shyness”. He says they’ve got to the stage where they are “bait-box shy” and tend to steer clear of the poisons and “rodenticides” which the managers of industrial parks and townhouse complexes put out for them on a weekly or monthly basis. Owl — and small raptor — death from eating poisoned rats is difficult to quantify but owls can also be hit when they are frozen in the headlights of cars and trucks. The main cause of infant owl