Want another Barn Owl in my area.?

Question

About two years ago, a barn owl found attraction to my car head lights early one morning and landed in the middle of the road as if to block a prey. I was trying not to run off the road into the swamp. When the car stopped he was on the hood. My family use to tease me about it ; they don't realize how upset I am to have lost the owl that had be around here for a long time. Everyone in the neighborhood has has sighting of him. Apparently, he must not have had a family because there hasn't been sighting nor sound of a barn owl since. There is an increase number of small animals like field mice and rabbits. The snakes have been brave to baste in the sun across the road. Obviously the owl kept them under control.

Here in Virginia, the area is woody, and there are tobacco and cattle farmers in the area. I'm curious what usually attracts a barn owl to an area and are they loners. It would be nice to have another one around here.

Answer 1

Aww...I'm really sorry you had to go through that. It's always sad to lose an animal you're attached to, and even worse if you accidentally cause it's death yourself. I do want to say one thing though. You said you tried not to run off the road, and I just wanted to say this - NEVER swerve to miss an animal on the road. Honestly, I can not stress that enough. I grew up in the country, and I know people who have died by simply swerving to try to miss an animal on the road. No matter how much you want to not hit an animal, your own safety has to come first. The only safe course of action is to hit the brakes, but keep going in exactly the same direction. I have been in cars that have hit many animals, as it just unavoidable when you live in the country and especially when you are driving long distances at night. Even if you hit a large animal, it is much safer to hit it than to swerve. Anyway, enough of the road safety subject, but I just wanted to say that, as I think it's a horrendous waste of life to see a person die by trying not to hit an animal on the road. I am an animal-lover, but no animal is worth dying for, generally speaking.

Re: how to attract owls, I'd suggest buying or making some nest boxes and putting them around the place. Here is a website with some info. about it.

http://www.wildlifegardener.co.uk/Encour...

Hope you can attract some barn owls. They're beautiful creatures. We had them where I grew up, and we ended up having one permanently in our care that had been attacked by a cat and was never able to fly again.

Good luck with bringing them into your area.