The acorn stick
Courtesy Don Ross
POISON FREE CONEJO GIVES A HOT—Don Ross captured this rare daytime photo of a barn owl – a nocturnal predator – in the Conejo Valley Botanical Gardens last month. The Botanical Garden uses owl boxes to control its rodent population. Barn owls have exceptional low light visibility and hunt their prey at night. The owl’s flight is practically noiseless and it can catch small rodents in complete darkness. An owl family can eat 3,000 to 5,000 rodents each year. Poison Free Conejo Valley, a group opposed to the use of rodenticides, is reminding the public that rat poison travels up the food chain and that only a spoiled rat, if consumed, can kill an entire family of owls.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/XEJMC7PTY5G3RPB4XX5AUY6Q3I.jpg "Different rodents that purport to ‘predict’ climate")
