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Watoni
Watoni is being sponsored by Shelley Benson
Watoni came to CLAWS from the Texas State Aquarium's rehabilitation department. We were talking to them about another bird and they asked if we needed a barn owl. Given caging prices, we said no, until they told us she was scheduled to be euthanized in two days. They get so many in they don't have enough facilities to house them or enough licensed facilities to take them all. She was shot in the eye when she was a fluffy brancher and is now half blind, meaning she does not have the depth perception necessary for life in the wild, though she is one of our only fully flighted birds.
In the Wild
Classification: |
Tyto alba |
Native Region: |
The Barn Owl is one of the most wide-spread of all land birds. They are found on all continents (except Antarctica) and large islands and occur over the whole of Australia, including Tasmania. They occur throughout most of Britain and Europe and across many parts of Asia, Africa, and in much of North America. In South America they are found in areas of suitable grassland, as well as on oceanic islands such as the Galapagos. They were introduced to Hawaii in 1958. |
Diet: |
Obligate Carnivores |
Behavior: |
Nocturnal though are sometimes seen hunting at dawn and dusk |
Social Structure: |
Pair bonding |
Interesting Facts: |
In the wild,
they typically live to be 2 years of age, in captivity, it
is between 11 and 25 years. Barn Owls specialize in hunting small ground mammals, and the vast majority of their food consists of small rodents. Voles (field mice) are an important food item, as well as pocket gophers, shrews, mice and rats. Barn Owls breed rapidly in response to mouse plagues. Other prey may include baby rabbits, bats, frogs, lizards, birds and insects. Prey are usually located by quartering up and down likely looking land - particularly open grassland. They also use low perches such as fence posts to seek quarry.
Barn owls are where the story of the Banshee came from. |