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Got mice? Bring in the owls!

June 8, 2011 by Elizabeth Weise

By Murray Schneider

It’s not the best kept secret that each spring a mother Great Horned owl returns to the eucalyptus tree situated yards from the Elk Street Glen Park Canyon entrance, perches among its burnished branches and nurtures her chicks in a nest that is visible to battalions of canyon visitors.

Richard Craig prior to installing his new barn owl house on Berkeley Way/Glen Canyon.

But if one walks along the rim of the canyon, say, along Turquoise Way, Crags Court and Berkeley Way, you’d see owl dwellings of a different sort, man-made ones constructed from plywood that stare over yellow-eyed grass punctuated coincidentally by owl clover, a rare California native plant that grows only in two other places in San Francisco – Bernal Hill and the Bay View

The recently installed owl houses, four in number, have been secured in trees by the Friends of Glen Canyon Park using six-inch log bolts, and they loom high above the canyon floor, serving an environmentally friendly purpose.

Each is designed to attract barn owls with a hole-size so small that its predator, the Great Horned owl, cannot enter and prey upon owlets.

“We have a rodent problem,” says Richard Craib, president of Friends of Glen Park Canyon. “Gophers and voles cause destruction, burrowing into our cellars and damaging our gardens.”

Craib hopes that by domiciling barn owls 14-feet high in canyon Monterey pine trees, they’ll reduce the rodents.

A resident of Diamond Heights for 47 years whose backyard abuts the highest slopes of the canyon, Craib is as knowledgeable of canyon ecology as he is conversant with home building.

Craib worked construction his entire life, but high-rise office buildings are more his métier than are diminutive tree houses for nocturnal birds of prey. He’s put the four barn owl houses only minutes from his home and placed each in strategic locations to thwart troublesome home invasions from field mice and rats.

Why four owl abodes and why so spread out? An owl will not hunt directly below its nest for fear of attracting the attention of other winged predators, and barn owls are noisy at night during breeding and nesting seasons.

Rich Craib looking up at his newly installed owl house.

“As these owls take up residence and proliferate,” Craib says, “they can catch many of the rodents that cause us grief.

The best-laid plans of man, however, may not catch many mice.

“Given the explosion of rodents due to the unusual rains,” says Randy Zebell, City natural areas gardener, “Rich’s owl houses are an interesting experiment.”

Zebell stood beneath the Craigs Court owl house. “Barn owls are elusive,” he added. “Only when Rich cleans out the houses for confirming nesting material, will we know if he’s been successful.”

A canyon caretaker with a long history of partnering with San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department, Craib insists the inimical rodenticides activate laws of unintended consequences, harmful to both humans and critters.

“Rat poisons cause a secondary problem,” he says. “They indirectly kill birds and mammals that eat the rodents, thus doing away with the very animals that can help us solve the rodent problem.”

Zabell agrees with his canyon partner.

“Herbicides are always a last resort,” Zebell says. “Rec and Parks endorses integrated pest management.”

An owl house.

Any vigilant birder with binoculars who gives a hoot can prove Rich Craib correct, as wise as any old owl.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

Upper Noe Neighbors Community Meeting Wednesday, May 21, 7 p.m.
Upper Noe Recreation Center auditorium
295 Day Street
Agenda


San Francisco Department of Public Works logoDPW Love Our City
District 8 Cleanup Day
Saturday, June 7, 9 a.m. to afternoon
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The Center for Creative Exploration
Explore all the Colors of the Rainbow
one-day workshop
Saturday, June 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
300 Chenery Street
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Weeding Party
June 21, 10 a.m. to noon
100 block of Arlington at Charles
Join neighbors on the North end of the Cut to keep down the weeds and beautify top to bottom. Tools, lunch and good company provided.



Stop the bleed logoStop the Bleed Workshop
Thursday, June 26, 6-9 p.m.
St. Aidan’s Church
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Glen Canyon Habitat Restoration
Every third Saturday 9:30 a.m to noon
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Glen Park Association is at San Francisco Public Library Glen Park Branch.
3 days ago
Glen Park Association

Photos and Fun courtesy of the Glen Park Library!
It was a great turnout at the Glen Park Library Open House on Saturday May 17th!

Thank you to all who attended and a big thank you to Glen Park Branch Library Manager Darren Heiber and his staff for a fantastic day!! 🙌🏽

San Francisco Public Library Arion Press | Artist Books Museum of Craft and Design Rafael Mandelman 🏳️‍🌈 #glenparklibrary #arionpress #museumofcraftanddesign #glenparksf #sanfrancisco #InCommunity
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Photos and Fun courtesy of the Glen Park Library! 
It was a great turnout at the Glen Park Library Open House on Saturday May 17th!

Thank you to all who attended and a big thank you to Glen Park Branch Library Manager Darren Heiber and his staff for a fantastic day!! 🙌🏽

@sfpubliclibrary @arionpress @museumofcraftanddesign @rafaelmandelmand8 #glenparklibrary #arionpress #museumofcraftanddesign #glenparksf #sanfrancisco #incommunity
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Glen Park Association is at Glen Park Recreation Center.
4 days ago
Glen Park Association

Qi Gong & Tai Chi Thursdays at the Glen Park Rec Center!

Thursdays 2:00PM - 2:45PM
Room #1
Led by led by Ashima Sarin

Beginners and All Levels of Mobility Are Welcome! It’s FREE and drop-in!

(There will be no class the second half of June and July)

📍Glen Park Rec Center, 70 Elk Street

QUESTIONS? CALL 415-239-4007
... See MoreSee Less

Qi Gong & Tai Chi Thursdays at the Glen Park Rec Center!

Thursdays  2:00PM - 2:45PM 
Room #1
Led by led by Ashima Sarin

Beginners and All Levels of Mobility Are Welcome! It’s FREE and drop-in! 

(There will be no class the second half of June and July)

📍Glen Park Rec Center, 70 Elk Street 

QUESTIONS? CALL 415-239-4007
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Blog Roll

Coyote Yipps
Friends of Upper Noe Recreation Center
Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project
Open SF History
Sunnyside Conservatory
Sunnyside History
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
Tramps of San Francisco
Upper Noe Neighbors

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