Barn owls could limit mouse numbers on-farm

Posted on: 24th December 2020

Our landscape ecologist Dr Grace Hodder and a troop of trusty volunteers have had a busy time in the field during the past two months.

As part of the Marna Banggara project, they’ve surveyed mouse abundance in barley and wheat crops on southern Yorke Peninsula. This baseline data will be used to monitor the effectiveness of Barn Owls in controlling mouse numbers, a potential flow-on benefit for the agricultural community. In coming years, we hope to augment current populations of native Barn Owls by installing nest boxes in the project area.

At the same time, a National Parks and Wildlife Service SA team has spent several twilight hours surveying Barn Owls to determine whether predator-prey numbers are in balance. Surprisingly this season, predator numbers were lower than prey numbers, whereas they have correlated in the past. Thanks to the rangers and the team of volunteers for their help with this important monitoring work.