Barn Owls Inhabit Nesting Box as Water Conservation Garden Welcomes New Residents

After a year of waiting, two mated barn owls have made a new home in a nesting box at Cuyamaca College’s

It is hoped that the pair, affectionately called “Hoot” and “Holla” by the staff at The Garden, will help control a growing rabbit population that feeds on many of the exhibits at the garden. They'll also provide a valuable educational tool to visitors. 

Marty Eberhardt, the executive director, said the fencing around The Garden keeps the rabbit’s natural wild predators (such as coyotes) out, which allows the rabbit population to continue to grow. Because of the increasing population of rodents and rabbits over time, Pam Meisner, The Garden’s educational specialist, suggested that owls be invited to The Garden via a nesting box to help provide natural pest control over time.

“Owls or any bird of prey are a natural predator of pests. They are at the top of the food chain, usually,” Meisner said. “Having a pair of nesting barn owls is not uncommon; however being able to watch them is very unique and not very common. This allows us to educate the public about them and in turn help protect their habitat.”

The nesting box is equipped with a special infrared video camera, known as the Owlcam, which provides live streaming video to viewers online 24/7 via The Garden’s website.

Shortly after Hoot and Holla settled in the nesting box in mid-February, Holla, the female, started laying eggs. The Owlcam has confirmed that Holla has laid six eggs, the first of which should hatch around mid-March. Once the baby owls have hatched, Hoot will catch mice and rabbits to feed his family while Holla stays with the babies in the nesting box. His natural hunting will hopefully help control the mounting rabbit population and keep The Garden’s exhibits safe. Park officials added that Hoot usually brings the day's catch back to the owl box between 7-7:30 p.m.

The nesting box, built by Air Superiority, was originally installed more than a year ago. Tom Stephan, falconer and owner of Air Superiority, said that even though a year seems like a long time to us, it’s not unexpected for a nesting box to sit empty for one or two years.

“One year to get owls is not a long time,” Stephan said. “They [owls] are not on people time. They are on owl time. In other words they will come when it suits them, not us.”

The nesting box is made of tropical hardwood plywood with oak trim. Stephan also said the boxes are treated with two different specialized chemicals that keep bees from colonizing inside the box. And owls are not all that picky about where or what they call “home.”

“Any wood is ‘comfortable’ [for an owl],” Stephan said. “If people only knew where these birds nest on occasion, like transformer boxes or in old hollow power poles, they would never need worry about the materials [of a nesting box].”

But once a nesting box is inhabited by a pair of owls, they will protect their home as best they can. However, anyone shaking the box will frighten the owls out of their home and they may never return.

“They stay in the box because they are convinced that no one knows of their presence there,” Stephen said. “Once that thought is changed in their minds they will go somewhere else.”

The Garden is preparing educational programs about owls for visiting schoolchildren and will have a baby owl naming contest lined up for mid-March when the first baby is supposed to hatch.

To help further educate the public about Hoot and Holla, Meisner, also known as Ms. Smarty Plants, will put on an owl educational program, “Ms. Smarty Plants Gives a Hoot,” during the Spring Garden Festival at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 9.

“Having this wonderful tool will help with teaching kids and parents about the life cycle, habitats, taking care of the Earth and reaping its wonderful rewards, the owls,” Meisner said. “We will even be able to watch the owlets hatch and fledge (leave the nest).”

Hoot and Holla can be seen any time of day or night via the online Owlcam.  The public is invited to visit The Water Conservation Garden and to view the owl’s nesting box, which sits 15 feet up in the air on a large pole.

“The owl cam has brought a lot of excitement from all kinds of people—from the schoolchildren who visit to security personnel to college presidents,” Eberhardt said. “I think we all enjoy having an intimate view of the lives of our fellow creatures.”

The Water Conservation Garden is a nonprofit organization that aims to educate the public about water-saving methods and water conservation through the use of exhibits and programs. The Garden is located at 12122 Cuyamaca College Dr. West just before the entrance to Cuyamaca College. For more information, visit thegarden.org  or call 619-660-0614.