Great-horned Owls in my town update. 4/25/2024.

The beautiful Great-horned Owls in my town center of North Easton are thriving, and two healthy owlets have been successfully hatched. In the last photo taken 5/14, the owlets are about 5-6 weeks old and starting to branch. The mom is usually in the nest with them or just above watching everything around especially as a new housing development is happening just yards away. Our owl family not only has to contend with this construction, but also with avoiding a poisoned food source. I recently discovered "black boxes" all around our town that likely contain second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) that are used as bait to kill rodents. They work by preventing blood from clotting, but, unfortunately, they also kill anything that then eats the rodents. Since it takes a few days for the rodent to die, and they are weakened, they become easier and more likely for an owl (or hawk, eagle, or pet for that matter) to capture. So many of our beautiful raptors have already been killed by these SGARs in surrounding Massachusetts towns including those that I have visited, photographed, and admired. We are poisoning their food source! MA Audubon has a volunteer "Rescue Raptors" effort that I joined, and I am working with different organizations here in North Easton to make them aware of these SGARs and their consequences for our local raptors such as this Great-horned Owl family. These owls eat 1200 rodents a year at a minimum, and they can live up to 40 years in the wild so, essentially, the loss of one of these raptors means the survival of 48,000 rodents. Great-horned Owls are much more effective at controlling rodent infestations than SGARs, and the owls are certainly more humane. My efforts to educate our town have been fruitful as our Conservation Commission and Environmental Planner are on board as are the Natural Resources Trust and Trustees. I have also been trying to contact and educate town and privately held buildings where I have located the black boxes. I think that education will be key as most people are just not aware of the danger and cruelty of using SGARs, and they do not recognize what those "black boxes" are around their buildings. My hope is that we will cease to use these poisons and move towards trying to attract more of these beautiful raptors to our town.