The tracking and tracing of three baby Barn owls from Kempton Park may give researchers from the University of Cape Town valuable insights into the species.
Eco Solutions joined forces with Starke Ayres in Kempton Park on May 17 to place rings on three fledgling owls at the property.
The rings each have a unique identification number embedded, which was uploaded to a database of UCT.
Management at Starke Ayres partnered with Eco Solutions to service 18 owl boxes on the Kempton Park property twice a year.
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While Eco Solutions focuses on non-toxic, effective pest control, the organisation also aims to create an owl and bat sanctuary dedicated to protecting these expert rodent managers.
Photo: Masego Mashilo
The Starke Ayres farm in Kempton Park is home to several bat hotels and 18 owl boxes, which provide shelter and breeding space for the owls to grow and reproduce while they serve as patrol agents, preying on pesky intruders.
Starke Ayres Kempton Park, national supply chain manager, Tewie Pretorius, said Eco Solutions services owl boxes twice a year not only in Kempton Park but across the organisation’s farms around the country.
“On the Kempton Park farm, they service the 18 owl boxes before and after the breeding season,” he said.
“Starke Ayres is a vegetable, flower and lawn seed provider specialising in cultivating seed varieties and sourcing the best available stock from its international suppliers.
“With our headquarters in Johannesburg, we are the leading vegetable seed supplier in Africa and preferred international suppliers of premium varieties of seed to the professional grower.”
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Bird specialist Arjen van Zwieten said the purpose of the ring ID was to track the distance the bird or owl had travelled and how old they were when found.
On the day, Pretorius and van Zwieten used a forklift safety cage to remove the baby barn owls from the owl boxes to prepare them for the ringing process.
“If anyone finds a bird with a ring, they can call the number provided. It is important to inform researchers at UCT about the condition the bird was in when found and exactly where it was found.
“We can then measure how far the bird has travelled and how long it has lived. I would take my data and give it to the university and the date of the ringing of the owls. After submitting the identification number, they would add it to the system.
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“The university can find out when the ringing took place and where the owl belongs,” he said.
Van Zwieten said using owls to eliminate rodents on a farm or in a warehouse is a sustainable, poison-free pest control method.
Along with the ringing process, they also collected several discarded owl pellets.
“Owls eat rodents without breaking the bones of their food. After the digestion, the owls produce a pellet, a mass of undigested parts such as bones, fur, feathers, beaks, claws and teeth.”
The collected pellets are used during educational shows at schools.
Eco Solutions sustainability manager, Sara Orchardson, said owls were the best solution for rats.
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“We are looking for poison-free or friendly, environmentally sustainable ways to manage rodent populations.
“Starke Aryes grows plants. The corn, beans, and tons of seeds are like a dinner bell for rats. There will be a lot of rats around. It is an open field, and it is a problem because it is damaging the produce.
“We do not want to use poison, especially in a natural environment like this where it is fairly pristine,” Orchardson said.
She added Eco Solutions aimed to educate and involve the community in the journey to natural pest control by using beautiful barn owls.
