SAFETY HARBOR, FL — It was a heartbreaking moment for Safety Harbor residents and fellow nature lovers who travel from around Tampa Bay and even across the country to photograph the family of great horned owls that live in Safety Harbor’s famous “Owl Tree.”
That’s the nickname given to the tree in Philippe Park, at 2525 Philippe Parkway, where a family of great horned owls has taken up residence from December through March for at least the past seven years.
But a common human practice has had lethal consequences for the feathered family that draws admirers and photographers from many states to Philippe Park.
Find out what’s happening in Safety Harborwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
From their perch in the “Owl Tree,” owl parents Oliver and Emily and their offspring have grown accustomed to bird watchers and nature photographers flocking around them with cameras and binoculars.
“We’ve had as many as 50 photographers gathered at Philippe Park to photograph the owls,” said Safety Harbor resident Catherine Stebbins. “We’ve watched Oliver and Emily raise 13 owlets in that tree, and we’ve named each one of them. We’ve grown to care about these birds deeply.”
Find out what’s happening in Safety Harborwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
(Photo by Fred Brisard)
Fred Brisard of Safety Harbor has been photographing the owls at Philippe Park for seven years. Above are two of Emily’s owlets who were destined for short lives. 
Left, Catherine Stebbins said there’s been as many as 50 photographers at Philippe Park to capture images of the owl family. Right, as soon as the city realized the danger rodenticides posed to the owls, City Manager Matt Spoor had all 20 bait boxes removed from city property.
Linda and Mark Schocken travel from their home in Carrollwood to Safety Harbor at least three times a week to watch and photograph the owls.
“We’ve been coming maybe four years,” said Mark Schocken. “We start coming in December when the owls arrive and keep coming until March when they disperse to other areas of the park where they’re harder to find.”
Safety Harbor resident Fred Brisard said he’s been a regular visitor to the “Owl Tree” for the past seven years and has captured a number of National Geographic-worthy photographs of the majestic raptors.
The great horned owl, also called the hoot owl or tiger owl for its tiger-like striped feathering, is one of the largest raptors in Florida, with a massive 5-foot wingspan. The great horned owl makes the red-tailed or red-shouldered hawks, with wingspans of 3.4 to 4.8 feet, seem puny by comparison. The only birds that rival the great horned owl in size are the bald and golden eagles.
The so-called horns on the great horned owl’s head are actually feathers called plumicorns. With their impressive size and piercing yellow eyes, the owls are a favorite subject of nature photographers around the country.
Brisard and Schocken, who has his own impressive photography portfolio of the owls, said they’ve met photographers from Maine, Tennessee, Georgia, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Jersey at the “Owl Tree.”
The owl watchers were excited when Emily hatched three babies on New Year’s Eve. They promptly christened them Huey, Duey and Luey, and were looking forward to photographing the interactions between parents and babies and watching the owlets grow to maturity. Then the unthinkable occurred.
On March 4, the owl watchers were horrified when Huey fell out of the tree and lay dead on the ground at their feet.
Three days later, one of the owl watchers spotted Emily flailing in Tampa Bay. Barbara Walker, a wildlife rescuer with Moccasin Lake Raptor Sanctuary in Clearwater, waded out and retrieved the owl from the waters.
“As Emily was dying, she called to her mate,” Stebbins said. “It was horrible.”
(Photo by Linda Schocken)
Linda Schocken of Carrollwood took this photo of Oliver and Emily before Emily’s death. She and her husband, Mark, have been coming to Safety Harbor at least three times a week to photograph the owls in Philippe Park. 
Left, raptor experts prepare to do a necropsy on Huey. Right, Barbara Walker carried the dying owl, Emily.
Already suspecting the owls had succumbed after eating a rat poisoned with a common pesticide that can be purchased at Home Depot or Lowe’s, the nature lovers had necropsies performed on the birds.
Their suspicions proved correct. Emily most likely picked up a poisoned rat and brought it back to the “Owl Tree” to feed to her babies.
This week, owl watchers Holly and Vance Vodicka reported that another of Emily’s owlets has died while still perched 50 feet up in the “Owl Tree.”
After the concerned owl watchers verified what killed the owls, they realized that rat poison was everywhere they looked. There were bait boxes around dumpsters throughout the city, behind restaurants and apartment complexes, even in city parks.
Poison Bait Boxes Outdoors The Culprit
“It seemed obvious there must be an increase in the use of rodenticide and, when we began to look, we found them everywhere,” said Brisard. “I’d say half the restaurants in Safety Harbor are using them around their buildings and dumpsters.”
Brisard believes the pesticide may be responsible for the deaths of three of Emily’s owlets hatched in 2021. One died on March 29, another on April 15.
“Then the third owlet went missing on May 24,” he said. “It was devastating. I don’t recall any owlets ever dying before March 29, 2021.”
When the residents contacted Safety Harbor City Manager Matt Spoor, he was quick to respond.
“As soon as we heard about it, we removed our 20 traps throughout city facilities,” Spoor said. But that’s just a drop in the bucket.
“They’re all over the city,” he said. And since pesticides are legal to buy and use, the city’s options are limited.
Safety Harbor Mayor Joe Ayoub said he was unaware of the problem until the owl lovers brought it to the attention of the City Council. Suddenly, he, too, is noticing rodenticide bait boxes around the city.
“I was in a business today and saw some,” he said.
The owl advocates have started a Facebook page called Safety Harbor Strong Owls & Nature, where they plan to educate the public on the dangers of using poisons outdoors. In a matter of weeks, the Facebook group has grown to 629 followers.
But at the March 21 City Commission meeting, the owl lovers said they need the city to get behind their campaign as well.
Ayoub agreed. The city plans to form an ad hoc committee made up of conservationists, business owners and city officials to discuss the problem and look at ways to control the rat population without using the poisonous rodenticides.
With Walker’s help, the city is also putting together educational materials that will be mailed with customers’ water bills in April.
Rat Poisons At Fault, Alternatives
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, most of the rat poisons used today interfere with blood clotting and cause death from excessive bleeding. Deaths typically occur between four days and two weeks after rodents begin to feed on the bait.
The anticoagulants sold to the public at hardware stores contain brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum or difethialone, or a combination of these chemicals. These are sold under the brand names d-Con, Hot Shot, Generation, Talon and Havoc.
Other rat poisons being sold to the public to control mice include bromethalin, cholecalciferol and zinc phosphide. These compounds are not anticoagulants, but each is toxic in other ways, said The Audubon Society, which has launched its own national campaign against the use of rodenticides and is asking people to pledge not to use these products.
The EPA noted that pesticides aren’t only deadly to rats and their predators, but also are a risk to the family dog, cat and children.
A four-year survey (1999 to 2003) by the Environmental Protection Agency found that at least 25,549 children under age 6 ingested enough rodenticide to suffer poisoning symptoms. Currently, about 15,000 calls per year come in to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from parents whose children have eaten rodenticides. Even if you place bait where children can’t reach it, rodents are apt to distribute it around the property.
Safer alternatives include single- and multiple-entrance snap traps, electrocuting traps and glue traps, according to The Audubon Society.
Linda Schocken said thoroughly cleansing and disinfecting areas that attract rats and using wildlife-proof garbage containers will help as well. But the most effective rat deterrents are the very creatures humans are killing with rodenticides — the owls.
Birds of prey conservation organizations are encouraging the use of owl boxes as an alternative to rat bait and traps.
Like the bat houses many communities employ to reduce mosquito populations, conservationists are encouraging businesses, apartment complexes and restaurants to put barn owl boxes in the trees around their properties.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said barn owls make their homes throughout Florida, and mice and rats just happen to be their favorite snack.
The Barn Owl Trust offers simple instructions on making a barn owl box.
Linda Schocken said it’s important for business owners to understand that the owls are good for business.
She and her husband come to Safety Harbor to photograph the owls three times a week. And three times a week, they have dinner at a Safety Harbor restaurant.
“The business community in Safety Harbor depends on the tourism industry and there are quite a few bird watchers and photographers who come to Safety Harbor to take advantage of the huge amount of wildlife here,” she said. “The owls are good for Safety Harbor and I hope Safety Harbor can find a way to be good for the owls.”
Among the materials the city will distribute is a flyer explaining the dangers and what residents can do:
[ad_2]
Originally Appeared Here