Barn Owl Nest Box - Belle Glade, Florida, USA

Inside this wooden nest box near Belle Glade, in the farmland south of Lake Okeechobee in Florida, wild barn owls lay their eggs, hatch their fluffy white owlets and bring in prey through the night.

The box is one of many put up in the Everglades Agricultural Area, where rats feed on sugarcane. In lab trials, some of these rats ate more than their own body weight in cane in a single day, so farmers welcome a natural predator.

By spring 2005 there were 233 owl boxes in Palm Beach County, but Hurricane Wilma destroyed most of them later that year, and only 85 were repaired. The owls are wild and free to come and go, and they hunt mostly at night.

Did You Know? Barn owls can find mice in total darkness by sound alone, thanks to ears set at slightly different heights on their heads.

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