Barn owls surge with early spring

Barn owls in the Lower Mainland are thriving, especially this year as unseasonably warm temperatures have made it easier to hunt their prey of mice and voles in local fields.

However as the endangered birds surge in numbers, there aren't enough homes to accommodate them.

Barns are where the nocturnal birds prefer to live.

"With urban expansion and lots of development a lot of the old barns are being taken down or re-purposed and old trees are being cut down to make room," said Charlotte Konken with Earthwise Society, which has a barn to help house the birds.

In Canada, barn owls live only in B.C. and Ontario, but there is hope that the warm weather in this part of the country will ultimately help the owls thrive.

"The birds rely on fields for food," said Martina Versteeg with Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society or O.W.L.

"Finding mice and voles buried amid the crops and without snow...the hunting is plentiful. That could spark a mini-population revival. Barn owls tend to want to breed and reproduce when there's food around. So obviously the warmer weather is good for rodents and their prey."

Still some scientists say they can't tell if early spring will impact barn owl populations here.

"They are not a slow reproducing species such as the spotted owls or beluga whales," wrote Sofi Hindmarch in an e-mail to CBC News. She's a wildlife biologist who wrote the barn owl recovery strategy for B.C.

"Rather, they can breed at nine months of age, and my colleagues and I have been monitoring their nest sites for almost a decade, and even when we have harsh winters, barn owl pairs are still capable of having one and sometimes two clutches."

Hindmarch says the biggest threat facing barn owls is loss of habitat.

Rescue centres often take on birds who have been found making homes in garages, gutters and even under the old Port Mann Bridge.

After being rehabilitated, barn owls from both Earthwise and O.W.L. will be re-released into the wild.