Cal Poly Humboldt Barn Owls

Home
United States
Arcata, CA
Cal Poly Humboldt Barn Owls

Collaborative research by faculty and students from Cal Poly Humboldt, winegrape vineyard managers, viticulturists, and other research colleagues.

10/17/2026

Big news for our Barn Owl Research Team! 🦉

We’re excited to launch a new project investigating how barn owls and automated, repeating traps can help control rodents, especially roof rats, in almond and pistachio orchards in California’s southern San Joaquin Valley!

This is an exciting expansion of our ongoing research in winegrape vineyards, and an important opportunity to explore sustainable pest management options for tree nut growers facing increasing problems with roof rats.

We’ve assembled a fantastic team of collaborators, including Drs. Roger Baldwin and Daniel Karp of UC Davis, and we’ll soon be welcoming several new graduate students to the project.

A huge thank-you to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Sustainable Pest Management program for supporting this work!

09/29/2026

Jadzia Rodríguez will defend her Master’s thesis this Friday, with a public presentation on her analyses of barn owl habitat selection in the Napa Valley vineyard ecosystem. Come check it out!

09/28/2026

This past week, Lauren spent a few days in Western Hungary visiting the Barn Owl Foundation in Orosztony. 🦉

The team here, including our friend and collaborator Zoltán Schnieder and the foundation managing director Ákos Klein, lead the barn owl conservation and research work in Zala County. Zoltán and Ákos gave a tour of the foundation field site and several of the barn owl boxes in the study region, including nests located high in church steeples and bell towers, mounted on poles in fields, tucked away in barns, and hidden in the tops of observation towers.

The foundation was established in 1997, and works continuously to monitor the barn owl population in the surrounding area. The Barn Owl Foundation also hosts a small owl rescue center on site, which houses several rehabilitated owl species including barn owl, tawny owl, and little owl.

Such a special opportunity to observe some of the incredible work being done with barn owls across the world! 🌎 🦉

08/14/2026

Check out Matt’s 15 min interview on Jefferson Public Radio about the lab’s latest published barn owl research. Link in bio.

07/03/2026

Nice little article from Joe Eaton of Raptors Are The Solution about our recent work showing that barn owls induce fear in voles and mice, as well as suppress their numbers. https://raptorsarethesolution.org/press/rats-tales-archives/rats-tales-full-articles/rodents-under-pressure-in-the-vineyard/

06/26/2026

And that’s just about a wrap for barn owl work in Lodi this season. Great to see and band a few more chicks before capping it off with a get together with collaborating folks at Mokulumne Glen Vineyards.

06/11/2026

Thanks to everyone who helped us name these four lovely chicks at our recent baby barn owl celebration in Lodi! The winning names are finally revealed. Could they be any cuter? 🦉🧡

All owls are handled safely by trained professionals for research with appropriate state, federal, and institutional IACUC permits.

06/06/2026

Barn owls fledge from nests at about 60 days old, and most of the owls in Napa Valley are about that old, like these four rascals here. A few nest boxes have younger chicks, and a few pairs have started second broods (other pics).

06/04/2026

We presented at a great workshop at Jessies’s grove Winery in Lodi, alongside other presenters about nature-based farming solutions. Did a barn owl banding demo and were lucky enough to tag along with a Nat Geo photographer who was there documenting Karen Gallardo-Cruz’s research.

05/21/2026

Vote for this year’s chick names today! Name reveal coming soon ✨🦉

Address

Dept Of Wildlife
Arcata, CA
95521

Website

http://www.barnowlpestcontrol.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cal Poly Humboldt Barn Owls posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.