Owls are one of the more iconic bird species. They have for centuries been used as a symbol of wisdom. More recently, they have become a familiar, cartoonish image on home décor items ranging from wallpaper to pillowcases to figurines. And, ever the crafty, silent assassin of night, owls are renowned for their ability to […]
Tag: barn owls
The UK’s barn owls are growing in number – and for once it’s thanks to humans
My mum fist-pumped when I told her I had seen a barn owl using a nest box on our farm. She has been trying to coax them in since she moved here 35 years ago. There were signs the owls might be thinking of settling down – we found a pellet (regurgitated fur and bones […]
Petition: Johns Hopkins Experimenter Scrambles Barn Owls’ Brains—Help Stop Him
Wearing owl masks and blasting audio recordings of screeching owls taken inside a Johns Hopkins University laboratory, a group of PETA supporters gathered outside the office of Johns Hopkins experimenter Shreesh Mysore and called for an end to his abuse of owls. Mysore cuts into barn owls’ skulls to expose their brains, screws and glues […]
British Barn Owls still struggling to adapt to modern life
One of the most widespread birds of prey in the world, the Common Barn Owl Tyto alba has proven so successful at adapting to life alongside humans that even its very name reflects the symbiotic relationship that has been shared by farmers and this charismatic bird over the course of thousands of years. Common Barn […]
Stone curlews died underweight because of ‘cold spring’
One of the UK’s rarest birds is being put at further risk by the cold spring, the RSPB has said. The bodies of eight underweight stone curlews have been discovered in fields in Norfolk, Suffolk and Wiltshire over the past few days. The birds are thought to have come from Africa and Spain but struggled […]