Event Registration - Yuba Sutter Chamber of Commerce
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The Barn Owl and the Great Horned Owl
11/9/2019
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Event Description
Over the past 20 years, Barn Owl numbers have been declining in Northern Colorado. This decline is due to loss of habitat and nesting sites. Therefore, Scott Rashid along with a number of volunteers have been building and placing nest boxes for Barn Owls throughout most of Northern Colorado with great success. By watching the cameras, Scott has identified information about these owls that could not have been obtained any other way.
Scott will therefore be presenting much of his findings about these nocturnal predators during his presentation. Scott will discuss much of the natural history of the Barn Owl, including their courtship, incubation, egg laying, hatching dates, growth of their young, feeding fledging and post fledging activities.
For example, Scott has had a Barn owl banded in Colorado that was recovered in New York State and another banded in Colorado recovered in New Mexico. Also, Barn Owls are one of the most beneficial birds in North America, as they will feed entirely upon destructive voles, if there are enough voles present. They often bring back about 700 voles per nesting season and can raise as many as 10 owlets per nesting cycle.
He will also discuss the proper nest box size and placement for Barn Owl habitat.
Another owl Scott will be discussing is the Great Horned Owl. This is the largest and most powerful owl nesting in the lower 48 states. It is capable of capturing and killing birds and animals as large as Turkeys and geese, but prefers to prey upon rabbits, hares and rats, when available.
Scott has been working with Great Horned Owls for more than 30 years and has written the book The
Great Horned Owl an in-depth Study.
During this portion of the presentation you will learn about the courtship, nesting, egg laying etc. of this species as well.
Both species frequently nest in close proximity to one another, and can do so with no interaction, if the prey base is high enough. Yet at other times, the larger great horned will kill and eat the Barn Owls.
During the presentation you will see documentation of proof of both situations.
Scott has live cameras on both barn Owl and Great Horned owl nests and he will show video of both species during their respective nesting seasons.