Outdoor Ontario

Birding Reports => Southern Ontario Reports => Topic started by: cabz on March 24, 2008, 11:48:34 AM

Title: Barn Owl in Milton
Post by: cabz on March 24, 2008, 11:48:34 AM

A friend of mine saw one in northeast Milton on Wednesday nite.  Boy, was she lucky, as I have not yet seen one.  It landed in the tree in her front yard, but only stayed a very short while, then flew off.

Title: Hmmm
Post by: JTF on March 24, 2008, 12:21:49 PM

Well these are rare for sure, wonder if it may have been an escaped bird from some handler?

Title: Barn owl
Post by: Napper on March 24, 2008, 04:20:27 PM

If it is truly a barn owl it would be a very interesting and  a rare find..

I drive up and down those rural lines quite often.. and yes there are many Barns, many are no longer in use.. I have often wondered about the possibilities..

Any hints on the location

Napper :))

see barn owl link

http://www.bsc-eoc.org/regional/barnowl.html (http://www.bsc-eoc.org/regional/barnowl.html)

Title:
Post by: Ann Brokelman on March 24, 2008, 04:40:19 PM

I thought there was only 1 pair seen in the wild in Ontario.  Is this true?  Or is this a folk lore.

Title:
Post by: Carl-Adam on March 24, 2008, 08:40:02 PM

That would be an amazing sighting. Make sure she reports it.

Title:
Post by: Carl-Adam on March 24, 2008, 08:49:57 PM

According to George Peck's Breending birds of Ontario Nidiology and Distribution Volume 1: Non Passerines. There are 29 Barn Owl nest records. I think these records are before 1987 (old barns were probably more common prior to this date). There were also two confirmed breeding pairs during the 2nd Breeding bird atlas from 2001-2005. Also These Owls nest in march so I would check that area out.

Title:
Post by: Axeman on March 26, 2008, 10:57:30 AM

I once visited a small resort on Manitoulin island and they had a stuffed barn owl that they claimed was found dead locally...for what that's worth...could this Ontario sighting have by any chance been a snowy?

Title:
Post by: Anonymous on March 26, 2008, 09:22:20 PM

Without sounding too much like a chastiser because I wasn't there and wouldn't know for sure, I'd have to say that the odds of it being a Barn Owl are very, very slim.  That being said - if you saw it and you're certain, great find!

Here's a photo I took of a Barn Owl at the Sportsmen Show named Seamus - http://outdoorontario.net/Gallery/Attil ... %21/Seamus (http://outdoorontario.net/Gallery/Attilas-2007-Shots%21/Seamus) - from a distance, I could see it being confused with a Snowy given its white underbelly.  That being said, with it being seen at dusk, depending on where the sun was when it was viewed, size would have to play a big part in its identification, no?

Title:
Post by: Anonymous on March 30, 2008, 10:08:51 AM

Spoke with the someone closely related to the MNR, and they (the MNR) confirm that there is 1 nesting pair of Barn Owls located in Ontario in the southwestern portion of the province.

Here's hoping that this was one of their hatchlings who has become mobile and is looking for a different region to live in.

Attila