Environment

A Brown and White “Green” Solution

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Her name is Cactus Kelly. She lives at the county’s old Cactus Park in Lakeside burn site. Her home is a rather small, custom-made, single story affair – made from a sheet of half-inch plywood. It’s 18”x18”x18” and it’s perched about 15 feet in the air.

Inviting Cactus Kelly to live at the park began as an experiment. The experiment is a success.

Years ago Cactus Park was a burn site where municipal solid waste was taken and burned – a practice that was phased out in response to clean air amendments. In more recent years, the rodents began to take over. Gophers and other creatures were burrowing into the earth, damaging the clean soil cap and creating an easy avenue for surface water to infiltrate the waste and potentially exposing debris.

A County Department of Environmental Health (DEH) inspector came up with the idea of installing an owl box to see if a bird would take up residency.  Shortly thereafter a barn owl did appear on the doorstep, or the stoop, or whatever they have on owl boxes. She apparently liked the place, and moved in. She was immediately named Cactus Kelly – taking her name from Cactus Park and Steve Kelly, the inspector who offered the suggestion.

Now Cactus Kelly has an all-you-can eat banquet and the burn site has less of a problem. This experiment has been so successful owl boxes are being erected at inactive landfills across the county – three in San Marcos, two in Encinitas, three more at Bonsall, and two in Poway. A barn owl has already moved into one of the boxes at San Marcos.

DEH inspectors hope the owl boxes will attract other barn owls, just as the one at Cactus Park did. The goal is that the owls settle in, take their meals close to home which reduces the local rodent population and that reduces the need for frequent cap repair by county crews which saves money in labor and equipment costs.

The owl boxes the county is erecting have an opening on one side on the front, with a floor-to-ceiling partition inside that separates the entryway from the main living quarters – the nest. This is so the owl can fight off any other predators, such as hawks or ravens, and keep them from entering the nesting area. A hinged lid allows access should the box require a thorough cleaning sometime in the future.

Jason Forga with DPW’s Inactive Landfills division said, “This is a green alternative to a problem that conventional practices, such as poisons and traps, could not solve.” 

Owl boxes are available from around $150 to $170 from the Farm and Home Advisor Master Gardener Program. According to Stephen Cantu, they come in two designs – one of them in the shape of a small barn. Whether that design helps attract barn owls is still up for debate, but the box is rather attractive in a country setting. Cantu says they can be placed in a tree or erected atop a pole anywhere from 12 to 20 feet up – depending on the slope of the land as owls prefer to be above the terrain. But, he says, it’s probably not a good idea to place them near a bedroom window as they can become a bit noisy during the nighttime hours.

Other plans for owl boxes are available on the internet for the do-it-yourselfer. Search: ANR Bat, Songbird and Owl Boxes.

There are also various suggestions for any box including spraying the inside with a bit of WD40; the owls don’t seem to mind but it’s supposed to keep bees out.

There are several species of barn owls and according to Cantu; they prefer meadow vole, mice, shrews, smaller rats and gophers, normally consuming a half dozen or so each night, or one third their body weight.

Besides being fun to watch, it’s a natural solution to a pesky problem, whether you have a large yard, a garden, a vineyard, or a just landfill.

Contact the Farm and Home Advisor Master Gardener program at 858 694-2860 or visit the FHA website