Barn Owl

Barnowl.bell.11.08 Earl Plato

“Screech-hiss-s-hiss-grunts and screams!” Weird calls! Scary white faces peered down at me. In reaction my small hands loosen on the ladder rung and I fell backwards. The fall was less than ten feet but that was enough to knock the wind from me. I had landed on old hay and the stiff ends of the dried timothy jammed into my back. As I regained my breath I started to cry. No one heard me. My mother was cooking inside the house and my brothers were at school. I sat up. I stopped the crying and looked up at the top of the ladder. Three little owls were peering down at me. Just then a large bird came through an opening above the owls. It must have been the parent. It hopped to the edge of the upper hay mow and started hissing. I stood up and headed to the tall ladder that lead don to the barn floor. I told my mother of the experience. I showed the puncture wounds across my back. Time for stinging iodine to be applied. I was only a curious five year old. My father encouraged the barn owls to move on and they did. No more ghostly birds to frighten a little boy.
This article is about the barn owl that once was seen rather regularly in rural Fort Erie many years ago. This owl has a heart-shaped face. My photo doesn’t show the numerous small dark spots on the white under parts. It has dark eyes and relatively long legs. Not a large owl about crow size.
We should have encouraged these barn owls to stay for they feed almost entirely on rodents. We had resident rats in the barn at that time. Today neglected cemeteries, garbage dumps, run down farms and waste lots are still home to this owl. Old church bell towers once a favourite nesting site have been greatly diminished in 2008. See a barn owl locally?