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Last updated on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
(LINTON) - The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is making a pro-active effort to provide nesting and roosting habitats for barn owls - a state-declared endangered species of bird.
On Friday, Amy Kearns, an assistant biologist with the Indiana Division of Fish & Wildlife based at Mitchell, led a group of local bird enthusiasts at the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area near Linton and showed them how to construct and place a barn owl boxes on their own property.
The placement at Goose Pond FWA was done at a location that is not being made public because of fear that curious onlookers might disturb the boxes and eradicate this local effort to help preserve a bird species that has declined in population in the state since the 1970s.
Kearns and John Castrale monitor the barn owl population in the state and Kearns says the nesting box project is a way to ensure the birds are protected and allowed to increase in numbers. They say that the nesting boxes are key to the program's success.
One of the major reasons the owl population is dwindling is the declining amount of forage area.
The DNR office can be reached by calling (812) 849-4586 for questions about nesting locations or plans to construct a nesting box. The address is Indiana Department of Resources, 562 DNR Road, Mitchell, Ind., 47446.
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