Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/90018
voice that makes Tom Waits sound liltingly ariose. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) goes for Belle in a big way. Its staff members wax poetic over her "white heart-shaped face" and "velvety feathers with soft fringes" that allow her to silently approach her prey. In sensuously provocative purple prose they pay tribute to her spectral appearance, partic- ularly the "ghostly look of her whitish under parts." In fact, USDA staff members are so smitten by the Barn Owl that they urge farmers every- where to build owl boxes. They even provide housing blueprints! These owl boxes are not limited to placement in the countryside. Using the USDA blueprints, the city of Davis, CA, erected several in-town pieds-à-terre to attract Barn Owls. Why the rapture? Belle is a natural born kill- ing machine. She and her extended family can control acres upon acres of farmland rodents, as well as those in urban areas. She feasts upon field mice, voles, rats, gophers, ground squirrels, etc., and she does all of this in the dead of night! Yes, Belle is a strictly nocturnal huntress and she is the only owl that can cap- ture prey in total darkness. No animal can see in pitch black, of course. But Belle's hearing is so acute that while on her perch and in flight, each of her ears reg- isters a different sound of a mouse rustling in the grass while her brain simultaneously calculates the exact path to the mouse based on auditory biangulation. She is a deadly ac- curate huntress. We all understand loss of habitat. Neighbor- hoods develop and expand; land is cleared for farming. It's out with the old growth, in with the new. In Belle's case, however, a very im- portant natural home for Barn Owls is slowly being eradicated. It is that old dead tree so teeming with wildlife. Those old dead trees that stood in yards, fields and national parks, are quickly disappearing. In parks, they are removed before they fall on visitors. On pri- vate property, removal is for aesthetic as well as safety reasons. But Belle requires a high perch from which to survey her vast hunting grounds. Readers, when you remove that eyesore tree, please consider replacing it with a villa for the beneficial Barn Owl. But NOT on Siesta Key! Why? Did I mention that Barn Owls also eat smaller owls like me? No? Well, neither did USDA. The friendly skies of the Celery Fields? My tail feathers! Before USDA invented the barn, Barn Owls were known by many other names: Ghost-, Hobgoblin-, Death- and my personal favorite … Monkey-Faced Owl. Every night is Hal- loween for Belle and family! USDA's favorite name is "the Cat with Wings." That makes me shudder.