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The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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Tower Building to become new home for barn owls

The Palo Alto High School Tower Building will soon become home to a pair of nesting barn owls, thanks to Paly’s administration and the Nation Audubon Society.

The owls, which had been living in one of the large palm trees at the south end of the Tower Building, were discovered during a recent tree pruning, according to assistant principal Chuck Merritt. The owls were scared off by the invasion of their home, and fled when workers began to cut the dead foliage from the beneath their nest.

"We discovered rat heads at the base of the tree and originally thought that it was possums [eating the rats]," Merritt said. "We found out [about the Barn Owls] after the trees were trimmed when some people who knew about the birds became very upset."

The administration is now working with Mark Macy, a local bird enthusiast and member of the National Audubon Society, who has been following the birds since their arrival in the trees, to create an owl house for the pair.

"We figured out that there are some windows at the south end of the Tower Building that open up into the attic," Merritt said. "Mark and I took measurements and now we’re getting a custom-made owl house through the Audubon Society."

Merritt and Macy are hurrying to create a suitable home for the two owls, which have been living somewhere else in the area since their tree was pruned.

"There are other birds of prey that prey on barn owls," Merritt said. "We are concerned that these owls be protected."

The Tower Building location is ideal for the nesting pair, which could produce large broods of about four to six chicks once or twice a year, according to the Audubon Society’s web site. The attic windows look over the soccer field and the quad, both of which could provide excellent hunting grounds for the owls.

"The Tower Building is perfect because they can see both the soccer field and quad." Merritt said. "From the palm tree they could also hunt both places."

A grown barn owl can eat as much as a dozen mice a night or one large rat or gopher.

"Owls live a very long time and are important in eliminating or controlling rodents," Merritt said.

Federal law protects barn owls under Schedules 1 and 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Disturbance of barn owl nesting sites requires a license under the law. However, since the school administration was unaware of the owls before the trimming, all they can do now is try to create an appropriate new home for the owls.

Owl boxes are generally about a foot high, two feet wide, and two feet deep, according to the Audubon Society’s web site. The proposed box for the Tower Building will be set into one of three window panels on the south side of the attic and have a single opening.

According to Merritt, the box will be arriving within weeks, at which point Macy will begin to attract the owls in to their new home using lure techniques.

Cool Barn Owl Facts:

– Barn owls mate for life.

– Barn owls consume twice as much food for their weight as other owls.

– A barn owl can actually hear a mouse’s heartbeat in a 30 ft-sq. room.

– Barn Owls are considered "silent" in flight. Their flight feathers and main wing feathers have a fine velvety fringe that cuts through the air smoothly.

To find out more about barn owl preservation, visit the National Audubon Society at http://www.audubon.org.

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