Pet on the loose? (1)

Nyal Xuereb, Għargħur.

I refer to the letter by Keith Micallef, Return Of The Birds (April 26). While acknowledging that this may have been an oversight, I am sure that the barn owl in the photo that accompanied the letter was an escaped pet.

The owl is easily recognisable as a captivity-bred specimen. Escaped birds happen very regularly and one can find all kinds of birds, including barn owls, for sale in many pet shops.

This particular specimen can cost well over €100.

Not that I encourage it, but barn owls have been domesticated and adapt well in captivity. I've witnessed them in children's hands in England, Scotland and Ireland and their behaviour is similar to that of mammals.

The son of a friend of mine had the same luck some months ago. With special thanks to Stephanie, the child's mother, here is a photo of the barn owl which ended up in his bedroom in Kappara.

As soon as they called me I told him, and others confirmed, it is next to impossible that a migratory one landed in his garden, entered his bedroom and stayed there for a photo shoot until it was caught hours later by professionals and taken away for good care.

Probably it's in someone's aviary now since it could not tend to itself in the wild.

As to the one in Mr Micallef's garden, I find it strange that the owl was drinking water, but anyhow, he should rest assured that it was no miracle.

Now while on the subject, ironically the last known breeding specimens in the Maltese islands were wiped out because their nesting place was replaced by a mass of concrete and stone in one of Mosta's valley's; a pity.

I wonder why BirdLife always blame hunters and never developers?

Comments

Nyal Xuereb (on 30/4/08)

Dion: The bird is real. Birdlife came to collect it. I have more photos of it if you want.

Nyal Xuereb (on 29/4/08)

Carmelo: you could be wrong cause the case I'm mentioning is less than 20 years ago and I remember an active FKNK member, now deceased, objecting to the development.

Richard: You could be right, but have you ever seen the coastline from the sea? I remember the north, particularly the coast between Qawra and Mellieha as green. Now its a huge chunk of stone and concrete. How would a bird feel when looking for a resting place?

Dion Borg (on 29/4/08)

I definitely prefer Keith’s picture than Nyal's
The owl 'shot' by Keith was and hopefully is still alive whilst Nyal's is dead rigid stuff -
but then it must have been the one from Mosta...

Richard Cachia Zammit (on 29/4/08)

Nyal if the nesting place of a pair of Barn Owl is destroyed, the pair moves on and finds another nesting place. The last pair of breeding Barn Owls were shot at in Gozo and the young starved to death...and the nesting hole is still there, so development surely cannot be blamed in this case.

carmelo aquilina (on 29/4/08)

No Nyal, the last Barn Owl was in a remote valley in Gozo. I was lucky to see it before it was shot about 25 years ago. It was reported in the newspapers that the chicks were found dead starved after their parent had been killed. At the time the FKNK, as far as I known, did not utter a word against this act of barbarism and Dr Frank Portelli then a Nationalist MP condemned it in parliament. The persecution of Barn Owls in Malta by bird shooters has been well documented, and given the number of rats in the Maltese countryside they would breed very well. When I lived in the UK there were many birds living amongst houses because no-one shot them . Perhaps Nyal would be telling us next that the extinction of the Peregrine Falcons at Ta' Cenc occurred because of some builder and developer.... I wonder why hunters always blame everyone else except themselves....?