ENTICING barn owls and hawks to nest in orchards could be a good alternative to wiping out mammalian pests such as gophers and mice with toxic chemicals, says a researcher in California. Owls and hawks are known as 鈥渇lying mousetraps鈥� or 鈥渃ats with wings鈥� because they have unbelievable appetites for rodents, says Chuck Ingels, of the University of California, Davis. A pair of barn owls with six young can eat more than 1000 small mammals in a year.
To test whether owl nest boxes could eliminate the need for chemical control of the rodents, which damage fruit trees, Ingels has distributed detailed instructions on the building of barn owl nest boxes to 230 farmers in the state. A follow-up survey will assess the effectiveness of the nonchemical rodent control.